Does end-of-life ships research trends change in last three decades? A review for the future roadmap

Abstract

Ships play a vital role in international trade for optimising transportation costs and help in boosting the economy in a globalized world. Therefore, a plethora of research has already been available in the areas related to the design, production, and operations of ships. However, little progress has been made around end-of-life (EOL) ships. For recycling the EOL ships, the terms “shipbreaking” and “ship recycling” were used in past studies and most of the time these terms can be interchangeably used in different studies. Still, there is a contextual difference that is further discussed. This study compiled the different methods of shipbreaking and ship recycling and the key regulations that facilitate the handling of EOL ships. Furthermore, it assesses the research trends of EOL ships from 1991 to 2021 through a systematic review with bibliometric analysis using the database of Scopus. For the systematic review, the topmost relevant publications are evaluated, and the key findings are compiled to find out the overall status of their contributions to shipbreaking and ship recycling research. Gaps are identified, and future research directions are discovered that might serve as a roadmap for further research development on EOL ships.