Industry overview
What is shaping shipbuilding
Shipbuilding and maritime services depend on a deep supplier ecosystem, skilled workforce and port infrastructure, with long project cycles and strict standards.
- Supplier capability limits how fast yards can scale
- Skilled trades are scarce and ageing
- Port users judge performance on turnaround and reliability
Client background
A ship recycling industry association, working in Gujarat. Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.
- Organisation
- A ship recycling industry association
- Sector
- Shipbuilding
- Team engaged
- Market Research
- Services
- Quantitative research, Qualitative research, Government research
Client challenge
The association wanted to improve worker welfare and safety, and needed reliable information on working conditions, health and living standards. Previous inspections had relied on yard owners’ records, which said little about how workers themselves experienced their jobs.
Research objectives
- Deliver on the brief: worker welfare research in the ship recycling industry.
- Understand the views, needs and behaviour of workers.
- Measure how widespread each pattern is, and explain the reasons behind it.
- Give the client evidence it can act on within 8 weeks.
Target audience
The work focused on 1,000 workers.
- workers1,000
Audiences we typically reach in shipbuilding
Shipyards and project managersMarine equipment suppliersSkilled workers and traineesPort users and shipping linesMaritime regulators
Geographic coverage
Coverage: Gujarat. Market: India.
- India
Research methodology
A mixed-method design: structured research measured how widespread each pattern was, and qualitative conversations explained why.
- 1Brief
- 2Worker survey
- 3In-depth interviews
- 4Insight
Interviewers speaking workers’ home languages surveyed workers away from worksites about training, protective equipment, health, accommodation and wages, with careful consent and confidentiality. Field teams included interviewers from workers’ home states, and responses were stored without names so that no individual could be identified by employers.
Quantitative researchQualitative researchGovernment research
Sampling strategy
- workers
- 1,000
- Qualitative participants were recruited purposively to cover the full range of experiences that mattered, rather than for statistical representation.
Data collection
- interviews
- 30
- Interviews and discussions were led by experienced moderators using a guide agreed with the client.
Data quality & validation
- Recordings and transcripts for every session
- Re-screening of qualitative recruits
- Logic and range checks on the final data
- Work carried out under our ISO 20252 quality procedures
Data analysis
- Cross-tabulation by key groups and locations
- Significance testing on the differences that mattered
- Thematic coding of interviews and discussions
- Journey and decision mapping
Key findings
- Accommodation and access to healthcare were the most urgent concerns, alongside inconsistent training.
Interviewing workers away from worksites encouraged honest answers.
Recommendations
- The association supported improved housing standards, health camps and standardised training for all yards.
- Share the findings with the teams closest to customers so they can act quickly.
What we recommended, and the client put into practice
Business impact
- A follow-up survey was planned after two years to measure whether conditions had improved, with results shared with workers’ representatives as well as yard owners.
Deliverables & next steps
- Insight report and management presentation
- Cleaned data file and data tables
- Interview summaries and key verbatims
- Evaluation findings with programme recommendations
- Repeat the measure after changes are in place to track progress.
- A natural follow-on question: what would attract more skilled workers?
Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.