If we walk around the coastline of Cilincing in North Jakarta, we will find people working among the wrecks of rusted ships. Some of them help to scrap the old ships and others carry iron panels or spare parts so that they can be sold.

The place is an open scrap yard where Shidiq and his employees make money by dismantling old ships and selling the iron panels and spare parts to their customers.

Having been in existence for several years, the scrap yard and workshop was started with modest tools and a small group of people. To bring the old ships onto land, they used to wait for the seawater to rise. Then, they drove trucks to tow the ships onto the seashore. Today, the workshop operates two cranes to help them pull and move the old ships to be scrapped.

Shidiq, who is from Madura Island, East Java, usually gets old ships from places as far away as Batam, a small island near Sumatra, and Ambon in Maluku. Shidiq and his employees dismantle and scrap the ships and later sort the wreckage into categories based on the metals found, mainly copper and iron. On average, each ship weighs 300 tons.

Then, they will cut the metal sheets into panels of 70 cm x 90 cm weighing 50 kilogram each. The panels are sold for Rp 2,500 (4US cents) per kilogram. They can sell around 14-15 tons everyday. Usually, it takes 20-30 days to scrap one ship, depending on its size.

Some parts, however, can still be used as spares for other ships. These parts will get a higher price.

The employees are paid depending on their jobs. Those who carry the iron panels from one place to another will receive between Rp 50,000 and Rp 60,000 per day (US$5) and those who cut up and scrap the ships get between Rp 70,000 and Rp 100,000 ($10) per day.

Hamid, a security guard at the workshop, said he was once summoned by the police following negative reports about the scrap yard.

"We just try to make a living from these old ships. We do not damage the environment," he said.

- Text and photos by Wendra Ajistyatama