Some $76m in Japanese overseas aid could pave the way for India to ratify the international Hong Kong convention by bringing smaller shipbreaking yards up to agreed environmental standards.

Alang breaking yards have borrowed the money from state-backed Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) as part of a wider $111m project to upgrade the region's beaching yards.

As TradeWinds has reported, the Gujarat Maritime Board has ordered all of Alang’s breakers to fit impermeable floors by July 2018 or face possible closure.