Got a bit of stress these days?

Welcome to the club. Or, rather, youre welcome to destroy this club. Meet Endorphin Factory.

The 6,000-square-foot business opened in Grand Prairie at the end of May and features a demolition room, where you can pay $35 and clobber everything in your path.

And during COVID-19, that seems to be something a lot of people want to do, according to co-owner Darryl Williams.

Absolutely, business has been good, Williams said. The crazy thing is, people come in a little timid.

They get over it quickly, he added.

The space is the only one of its kind in the country, say the owners, to feature demolition rooms, axe throwing and archery under one roof, and it is the only such Black-owned business in the state.

Williams and his partner, his uncle Roy Rucker, planned to open the space in April. Statewide shutdowns pushed its debut to the end of May. Since then, business has grown at a healthy pace.

Rucker, the majority owner of Endorphin Factory, has an extensive background as business owner. The 30-year Army combat veteran owns a government services IT company in Rockwall and is a minority owner of another Black-owned business in Grand Prairie, ITSO Vegan restaurant.

Thanks to Ruckers military experience, he said, hes equipped to monitor any customers in case their anger gets away from them. Each participant is given an exit interview to assess any potential mental needs and get them outside counseling or attention, if needed. So far, he said that hasnt happened.

Ninety-five percent are under a lot of stress when they come in, Rucker said. After 20 minutes, they are stress-free.

There is no typical customer at Endorphin Factory We see so many different types of people, Williams said but the one thing they seem to share is a need to take a mental break from it all.

Right now, Williams said he is thrilled with the frenetic feedback: The support all around has been amazing. Its been better than ever expected during a pandemic.

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Destroy a demolition room at this new Grand Prairie business - The Dallas Morning News

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) The potential demolition of a former southeast-side elementary school has been put pause as a group of neighbors work to save the building. Ward Elementary School, owned by Fort Wayne Community Schools, has become a discussion point between the neighbors, school system and ARCH.

Ward Elementary School, later named L.C. Ward Education Center was built near the intersection of Oxford Street and Warsaw Street in the early 1930s, opening in 1931, according to ARCH Executive Director Connie Haas Zuber. 90 years later, the building sits empty.

This building has a place in our community, Donita Mudd told WANE 15. You got to have something unique and Ward can be our unique catalyst, our spark to economic development.

A group of neighbors gathered at the school building Friday afternoon after Mudd, who once served as a substitute teacher in the building, noticed a request for demolition bids in a newspaper.

I just see the possibility when you use those historic buildings or those older buildings, what it can be and the character thats there thats typically enhanced when the developers the construction people go in, Mudd added. Its like a totally different building, but the bones are still there, the outside is there and that uniqueness and the character is still there.

Mudd said she hopes Fort Wayne Community Schools will transfer ownership to ARCH and take half or less of the demolition money and give it to ARCH to maintain the building while a developer search happens.

This is a lovely building, Haas Zuber said. Yes, to reuse it, money will be spent on it, but it is not an undoable project. The stewardship of this building has been good. Its sound. Its been well cared for. This is a good candidate for reuse.

WANE 15 reached out Fort Wayne Community Schools leaders for a response to Fridays protest.

Fort Wayne Community Schools closed Ward Education Center in 2017. The building required millions of dollars in repairs and renovations to remain an adequate learning space, and FWCS had a newer facility in much better condition that could be used to house the Districts alternative learning program (the former Nebraska Elementary, now the Center for Academic Success at Nebraska). After sitting vacant for three years, FWCS investigated demolishing Ward. As concerns and interest have been raised about the building, those plans are currently on hold. FWCS officials will meet with community leaders, elected officials and ARCH to discuss the building later this month.

ARCH has gone through this for months now, with the deepest respect for Fort Wayne Community Schools its concerns are crucial the neighborhoods concerns are crucial, Haas Zuber added. We hope that ARCHs interest in this building is also seen as important. If we can find a way to make all three of those things work together, we will have a win-win-win for all of us.

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Neighbors gather to save Ward Elementary School from demolition - WANE

On Thursday, July 23 the iconic Roxbury Love Mural was demolished by Cruz Companies with little warning to the community that had cherished it for years. In its place will be built condos well out of the price range of current residents. As outrage spread at this brazen act of gentrification, the Boston branch of the Party for Socialism and Liberation called a speak-out at the site where the mural once stood on July 26. Over 200 people gathered at 6:30pm on an extremely hot day to display their frustrations with the deeply red-lined and rapidly gentrifying state of the city.

Boston is the third most gentrified city in the country, according to a recent report by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. About 20 percent of city neighborhoods were gentrified in the period from 2013-2017. Roxbury is a key battleground in the struggle against gentrification, as a historically Black and Brown neighborhood neglected by the city government, lacking social services and public infrastructure. The neighborhood has been experiencing skyrocketing real estate prices as developers continue to move in.

Residents and organizers have been fighting against this looming displacement by forcing amendments to city plans for rezoning, educating themselves and organizing protests and disruptions.

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Outrage at demolition of mural in Bostons Roxbury neighborhood - Liberation

Courtesy Highland Inn

The owner the Highland Inn & Ballroom in Poncey-Highland has applied for a demolition permit to raze the nearly-century old landmark to make way for a potential mixed-use development.

The Atlanta Zoning Review Board is slated to discuss the matter at its Aug. 13 meeting.

Built in 1927, the hotel and event space at 644 N. Highland Avenue is owned by Thomas Carmichael, who also owns the North High Ridge Apartments across the street. Carmichael has been an outspoken opponent of creating the Poncey-Highland Historic District, which has been approved by residents, but finalization has been delayed due to the pandemic.

According to What Now Atlanta, approval of the demolition permit has been delayed due to the historic nature of the building, but a new development would likely feature retail, restaurant space, and apartments.

However, an attorney for Carmichael told Atlanta magazine that demolition is not imminent and that his client was simply looking at options due to the Highland Inns aged condition and the challenges to the hospitality industry due to COVID-19. The attorney said Carmichael had signed no development deals or sought a buyer.

David Mitchell with the Atlanta Preservation Center said the organization is monitoring the situation, but said what the city decides to do will be telling.

The Atlanta Preservation Center is earnestly observing this process and the result will be an example of how preservation is recognized, Mitchell said.

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Future of Highland Inn & Ballroom in question after owner applies for demolition permit - Atlanta Intown

The Hard Rock hotel construction in New Orleans collapsed on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2019.(Photo: Contributed)

NEW ORLEANS, La. Ten months after the collapse of the Hard Rock Hotel construction site, the remains of one of the deceased workers have been recovered from the precarious pile of concrete.

Quinnyon Wimberly, 36, was one of three who died in the collapse last October, and was one of two whose bodies have been trapped in the rubble.The other person, Jose Arreola, remains on the 8th floor. The body of the third worker, Anthony Magrette, was recovered within days.

This has been a long journey, but the journey has been longest for the families most impacted by this collapse, said New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell. Long time coming to get Quinnyon Wimberly out of the building.

Its the culmination of nearly a year of waiting for closure for the Wimberly family.

Efforts to remove Wimberly from the 11th floor of the structure began in July, but were stymied by bad weather and equipment failures, New Orleans city officials said.

To see my son in there for 10 months, to pass on the interstate at times, I cant look that way. I want my son out, Wimberlys mother, Irene Wimberly, told local television station WDSU in July after the delay.

Wimberlys death also became something of a symbol for the contractors failure to quickly retrieve the deceased and demolish the building. In January, a tarp blew away to reveal the remains of a worker hanging from the side of the structure. Images of the deceased worker, who local media identified as Wimberly, began circulating on social media and led to protests outside city hall.

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After the initial efforts by the city emergency services to rescue the victims failed, the responsibility for both recovery and demolition fell to the contractors, city communications director Beau Tidwell said. Still, the city assisted in the recovery and blamed the delays on the unstable nature of the structure.

"Recovery is very, very challenging because of the amount of debris the victims are under.(This is) very frustrating for rescuers who do this for a living and you can only imagine what the families are going through, said New Orleans Fire Superintendent Tim McConnell.

Cantrell and McConnell did not provide a timeline for the recovery of Arreola, which McConnell said would be way more difficult and complex.

Next well be recovering Jose so we can turn Jose over to his family as well, Cantrell said.

Adding to the frustration, an investigation of the New Orleans Department of Safety and Permits found that city employees had falsified inspection reports, approving construction without visiting the Hard Rock site as required. One of the missed inspections occurred 11 days prior to the collapse.

The Hard Rock hotel construction in downtown New Orleans collapsed on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2019.(Photo: Andrew Yawn/Daily Advertiser)

In April, an Occupational Safety and Health Administration report accused Heaslip Engineering, the Hard Rock Hotel's lead engineer, of "serious" and "willful" violations. OSHA found that "floor beams on the 16th floor were under-designed in load capacity" and "structural steel connections were inadequately designed, reviewed or approved." OSHA's report did not say if these lapses caused the collapse of the under construction building.

Demolition discussions also drew concerns. For months, the project's owner, a company named 1031 Canal LLC, and the city bickered publicly over how the building should be demolished: either by implosion or piece-by-piece. Multiple deadlines came and went unmet.

In April, the city government approved a piece-by-piece demolition plan, which began with theremoval of two damaged cranes that had been partially imploded in October. There remains no timeline for the demolition of the structure, which continues to loom over the French Quarter.

On Saturday, Mayor Cantrell said the city will be pushing for accountability as it relates to the cause of the collapse.

I want to see justice for the families, Cantrell said.

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Remains recovered months after Hard Rock Hotel collapse in New Orleans - Daily Advertiser

The demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992 passed us by incident free. The horror of the actual act notwithstanding, my family members and I watched it calmly on our TV screen with a sense of disbelief.

While there was a cloud of dust on the screen hiding the falling debris and as the camera swerved to capture a joyous Uma Bharti with her arms around a seated Murli Manohar Joshi, we believed that the charade of demolition would end soon.

The reality of the scene playing out on the television hit home when my uncle picked up the phone and uttered three unbelievable words: Masjid gir gayee (the mosque has fallen).

The cloud of dust on the screen settled. In place of the dome was debris. The illusion lay shattered.

We were shocked, but not scared. Our baptism by riots had already happened two years ago, in 1990. We knew the drill. Rooms in Agras Mughal Sheraton hotel had already been booked, in case we needed them.

In 1990, when BJP president L.K. Advanis rath yatra trampled upon the idea of India, leaving behind a trail of blood and bodies, we were caught unprepared. Actually, we were left holding the corpse of our idealistic optimism.

With no prior experience of communal violence, my family was both in denial and a dilemma. First, we didnt anticipate that riots would break out in Agra; we didnt know then where we would be more secure in our upscale Hindu majority neighbourhood where the privilege of residents would throw a security blanket around us, or in the Muslim majority low middle class mohalla of my uncles where numbers would supposedly insulate us.

Each kept urging the other to move out. My father told his two brothers living in the mohalla to shift to our house, and they kept requesting us to move in with them.

Each secure in his optimism, we remained where we were.

File photo of L.K. Advani during his 1990 rath yatra. Also present, Narendra Modi, then an RSS pracharak, now prime minister. Photo: Reuters

Then, violence broke out. But my father was confident in the knowledge that over the last decade, he had cultivated a vast network of friends from among the bureaucrats who had served in Agra those may district magistrates, senior superintendents and commissioners of police had gone up the hierarchy in the UP state administration.

They were our security blanket.

Also read: Ayodhyas Class of 1992: The Key Conspirators

Then the violence hit home. It came with a fair warning. All through that November 1990 morning, several neighbours visited us to impart solemn advice. Shift to your ancestral house for a few days, they told my father. Or at least send bhabhiji (referring to my mother) and the kids away.

As the day drew to a close, we huddled together in the family room, waiting for an attack my parents were certain would happen that evening. I was handed a diary with phone numbers of all the police officials we knew, from the local police station to SSPs. I started to make calls. Mysteriously, none were being answered.

Doesnt matter, keep trying, my father told me.

Then the slogans started.

At first, they seemed to come from a distance. But they started inching closer. And closer. My brother and I ran towards the main door, which had a narrow glass panel on the right through which one could see the porch, the gate and the road beyond. A mob with tridents and fire torches was marching towards our gate. My brother and I stood transfixed.

From inside, we could hear my mother screaming at us to get back inside. Outside, the mob was now at the gate and shouting violently. Right in very front was a neighbourhood boy whose younger brother was my brothers playmate.

Sanjay bhaiyya, my brother whispered, as we ran inside to share our discovery.

My father was calm. He told my uncle that Sanjays presence implied that the mob would not harm us. They will shout some slogans and move on, he said.

Then the mob started throwing stones. We heard windows crashing. Get back to the phone, my father screamed at me, shaking visibly. As long as he had been calm, we feared no disaster. But once we saw his fear, there was panic.

In those moments of pure terror, we didnt notice exactly when the mob outside started to disperse. Just as the noise outside receded, someone picked up my call to the SSPs residence. That person made a note of our address and promised to send a patrol car.

Once we were convinced of the silence, my mother went to the door to confirm if the mob had indeed left. One of the glass panels had cracked, and by the shattered pieces of glass on the porch, we figured that several windows had succumbed to the assault, as had the car parked in the porch.

That evening, no dinner was served. Everyone stayed together in the family room, not daring to step out and assess the damage. Well after 10 pm, a few policemen arrived. They assured us that they would include our street in their night patrol.

Also read:The Provocateur in Chief L.K. Advani

Somehow, we got through the night. In my heart, I believed that everything would be fine in the morning.

And it was, for a few hours at least, when our domestic help started to arrive for work. Since ours was not Muslim area, there was no curfew here. Just as we were settling down for breakfast, someone rang the doorbell.

It was my cousin, my middle uncles older son from the mohalla. All of 14, he was dishevelled and quaking with fear. He must have been crying for some time because his voice was choked. That morning, the notorious Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) had carried out a cordon and search operation in the mohalla and had taken away all adult men. My cousin was also picked up, along with his father and younger uncle. However, one of the constables took pity on him and allowed him to jump from the jeep as it turned on the main road.

From there, he had walked a couple of kilometres to our house. During the operation, the PAC had ransacked the house and disconnected the phone lines. My two aunts and younger cousins were at the house, and we could not go there because of curfew orders in that area.

There was no way of knowing where my uncles were. Though I didnt realise it at that time, the memories of the Hashimpura massacre of 1987 must have sent cold shivers down my parents backs.

With breakfast left untouched, my father and uncle left immediately. My father went to see the police commissioner, who had been our guest on several evenings and had shared drinks with the host.

My uncle went to the police station closest to the mohalla. He was told that no such incident had taken place. But when my uncle insisted that the information was from from reliable sources, he was directed to another police station.

Something in their manner told him that the constables were lying, so he stayed put. No officer came to speak with him. Meanwhile, my father was told that the commissioner was not available, after which he tried the office of the SSP, another regular at parties at our home. The SSP briefly met my father, appearing to be extremely busy and told him that he was not aware of any such incident.

Also read:Ayodhya: Once There Was A Mosque

But if something like this has happened, I will ensure that your brothers are not harmed, he assured my father, but not exactly in these words. Word passed down the hierarchy. My uncle, who was at the police station, was handed a few curfew passes. He was also told not to worry and that my missing uncles would return home before evening.

I accompanied my mother and uncle to the house of my birth in his hatchback which had escaped the vandalism of the previous evening as it has beenparked inside the garage. The open maidan at the mouth of lane where our house was located looked like a war zone. Stones were scattered all over the unpaved ground, and there were a few carcasses of two-wheelers. The windows of houses facing the maidan were broken and most of the doors hung by their hinges.

Leaving the car in the maidan, we walked inside the lane towards our house. From the outside, it looked normal. My grandfather had installed a heavy-duty door which had withstood the assault. As always, it was not bolted.

A gentle push opened it into the central courtyard. The first thing that caught my eye was a television lying face down on the marble floor of the courtyard. Then glass pieces and remains of crockery came into view, and clothes, toys, a cricket bat, an heirloom copper paan daan, as well as broken remnants of other things.

However, more frightening than this was the eerie silence that permeated the house. When I was growing up, I always associated this house with noise. There were far too many people in too little space. But now, when there was no sound, I could feel the tightness in my stomach and heaviness in my legs. Where was everyone?

My mothers call to my middle aunt sounded more like a shriek. In response, a scream tore out from one of the rooms. All at once, the noise returned. My aunts, distraught and dishevelled, rushed out and engulfed my mother in a spasmodic embrace. Interspersed with frequent wailing, my aunts started to recount the sequence. How my uncles were dragged out in their sleepwear, how a few policemen came back inside to deliberately break things, how they made salacious remarks at my younger aunt, how they scared the kids and so on.

It took me a while to realise that both my mother and I were crying. Perhaps we were crying about it all for my uncles, the narrow escape that my aunts had and what could have happened to us the previous evening.

Also read:Supreme Courts Ayodhya Verdict Rests on a Glaring Contradiction

But I knew for sure that some of my tears were for the sheer helplessness that I knew my father and my uncle were feeling. Physically, they may have travelled a small distance from the Muslim mohalla to upper class Hindu colony, but emotionally they had travelled the distance of a lifetime.

In the family comprising six brothers and four sisters, these two had most prominently shed their ghettoised Muslim identities. They were in with the social, cultural and economic life of Agra, hobnobbing with the whos who. And yet when it came to the communal division, they were nothing but Muslims. Forever suspects, forever victims.

My uncles returned home late in the afternoon. A police vehicle dropped them at the mouth of the lane from where they hobbled inside and into the house which remained unbolted. Their shoulders, backs and calves were bruised and streaked with ugly blue welts. One had a wound just below the eyebrow, where he had probably been hit by a rifle butt or a baton. My aunt said a few prayers over his head, frequently thanking Allah for sparing his life, and his eye.

Soon, wailing women from the neighbourhood started pouring into in our courtyard. Their men were still missing. They pleaded with my mother and my uncle to help get their men back.

The bruised men started to come back during the night and the next morning. No case was recorded, no charges were filed. It was as if the incident never happened. Slowly, the situation started to calm down.

At that time, there was no way of knowing how many people died in Agra that week. There was a huge gap between the figures put out by the local Hindi media and what the people believed. However, according to a compilation by the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies under Nagarik Mancha by B. Rajeshwari, 31 people, most of them Muslims, died in Agra in November 1990.

According to the same study, in the wake of Advanis rath yatra, nearly 1,800 people died in different parts of India between April-December 1990. As it happens with communal violence in India, the majority of the dead were Muslim.

As I prepared to return to college in Delhi at the end of November, my mother told me not to mention the two incidents to anyone.

Why?, I asked her.

Why, she retorted. Are they to be proud of?

I couldnt understand the shame in being a victim. She explained to me, for my father it was not about being a victim. It was about the humiliation that the two incidents implied. He believed that his successful business, his social commitments, his national and state awards had placed him in a different league, where his name carried respect, and maybe awe. He never went to anyone; everyone came to him.

Also read: Mandir Wahin Banayenge Said L.K. Advani 30 Years Ago, But Will Stay Home on August 5

But those two November days had left him helpless and fearful. The hour he spent outside the commissioners office, which was crowded by people who would probably wait outside his own office, devastated him. If he could, he would have erased those two days from his life.

So, collectively we worked towards erasing them from our lives.

Babri Masjid meant little to us then, it means little now. For Muslims, prayer is important, a mosque is not. Prayer is piety. A mosque is vanity. As Mohammed Iqbal wrote:

Aa gaya ain ladai mein agar waqt-e-namaz qibla-ru ho ke zamin-bos hui qaum-e-hijaz ek hi saf mein khade ho gaye mahmud o ayaaz na koi banda raha aur na koi banda-navaz.

(In a middle of a battle when it was time for prayerfacing west, the devout touched their forehead to the groundstanding shoulder to shoulder Mahmud and Ayazremained unmindful of the difference between king and slave.

The demolition didnt hurt us, but the impact of the demolition did the progressive marginalisation, everyday communal profiling and normalisation of violence against Muslims. All of this has been shrinking the access a Muslim has to public spaces in her own country.

Today, when angry Muslims call for the construction of a mosque in Ayodhya, grander than the Ram temple, they are succumbing to competitive communalism. This is a sport they can never win.

The road ahead is both narrow and perilous. Muslims must choose their battles wisely. The biggest challenge is to widen the space available to them. For this, not only do they have to speak in a coherent voice, but also move others to lend their voices to them.

After all, it is the battle for the soul of the nation we call home.

Ghazala Wahab is executive editor FORCE newsmagazine. Her forthcoming book Born a Muslim will be published by Aleph Book Company in early 2021.

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Night of Terror: The Dust Kicked up Before the Babri Masjid Demolition - The Wire

Amanda Parrish|Middletown Transcript

MIDDLETOWN -- In 1929, Middletown School opened its doors with 434 students and 17 faculty members, housing grades 1 through 12 until it became Middletown High for 70 years.

Twenty years ago, the South Broad Street building became Middletown Middle School and then Everett Meredith Middle School in 2002 after community members petitioned the Appoquinimink Board of Education to rename it after the former history teacher and principal.

The structure has served thousands of students throughout its long history, but last month demolition began on the historic building.

A new middle school still to be Everett Meredith will be built in its place. It will include architectural references to the original building and a history wall, which will be made from its wood and bricks and featuring donated mementos from past classes.

The two-year renovation began last month with the removal of trees, the sidewalk and part of the parking lot.

As the demolition started during the last week of July, former students and community members reminisced on their favorite memories with the building.

Sad, but needed

Carlton Parker who was a Everett Meredith counselor, assistant principal and principal said the building holds a lot of memories for Middletown residents, with many remembering the days of the old Middletown High School, but to keep up with technology demands, a new school is needed.

He has had positive and negative experiences at the school, and the biggest struggle was keeping up with modern technology in a building that made it difficult.

The building has a great amount of age and was difficult to maintain, especially with the demands of providing a meaningful 21st century education to our students, Parker said. The district continued to take steps to meet the demands until doing so became impossible.

Despite the problems with technology, some of his greatest memories involved the people at the school. He saw staff and students grasp the importance of learning and desire individual growth.

Christina Biederman, Middletown High School 1995 graduate, said she understands why it has to be torn down but she is still upset to see it go.

This was my home for four years. The only place I felt safe. The place I met some of my best friends, my first love, two teachers that literally saved my life, she said. I know I will have the memories, but I still find it very sad.

Most residents are like Biederman. They are sad to see the school go, but they know the reconstruction is needed.

Abbymanuel Rosario, Middletown High School 2012 graduate, said he would have been outraged to see the school torn down and built into something new, but because it will be a new Everett Meredith, he is happy about the renovation.

We're old, we've had our memories in the school the way it was. Now it's time for the younger generation to make their own memories, he said.

Connie Marshall-Olsen, a bus driver for the Appoquinimink School District, did not attend the school, but her late sister graduated from Middletown High in the 1980s.

Because she is not a taxpayer for the district, she doesnt have an opinion on whether it gets demolished, but she has loved looking at the building and remembering her sisters graduation day while she waits for the kids to be dismissed from school.

It hurts my heart to see the school gone. I did not have many years with my sister so being able to look at a place she walked proudly across the stage at, will be missed very much, Marshall-Olsen said. I was lucky to drive there five days a week and I am grateful my bus route took me there. I felt closer to my sister every day that I was in that parking lot.

Kevin Manz was one of the first groups of middle schoolers to attend Middletown Middle School and he recalls skateboarding through the halls after school.

I remember volunteering to set up for the dance in eight grade. Between school letting out and the dance I took that time to skateboard up and down the ramp to the cafeteria, Manz said.

Although he didnt attend the school, rising Middletown High School senior William Wrinn went into the building a few times for dance recitals, specifically remembering his second time in the school as an eighth grader for sign language concert.

I didnt explore much, but I remember running down the ramp that took you to the cafeteria since one side of the auditorium was there. The auditorium was nice though, in fact there was a balcony, which I went on during the sign language concert for the district, he said. I will tell you this though, that building needs to go.

The school is scheduled to reopen in fall 2022. During the construction, Everett Meredith students, teachers and staff will be at Odessa High School at 570 Tony Marchio Drive, a Townsend address but just south of Odessa, where they will operate as a self-contained school within a school, public information officer Lilian Miles said.

Monthly construction updates will be given at Appoquinimink Board of Education meetings.

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Everett Meredith will go, but memories remain: Community reminisces as demolition begins - Middletown Transcript

(file photo)

By The Maritime Executive 08-07-2020 07:09:11

The economic impact of the coronavirus is taking a strong toll on the shipbuilding industry according to a new analysis from BIMCO. While the orderbook is at its lowest point in 17 years, BIMCO however reports that even with increasing demolitions fleet volumes are continuing to rise based on deliveries of existing orders.

Contracting activity has been quick to feel the effects of the pandemic with owners and investors showing little appetite for new ships, says Peter Sand, BIMCOs Chief Shipping Analyst.

Looking at the orderbook for commercial shipping consisting of container ships, dry bulk, and tankers, BIMCO reports in total orders have declined by 50 percent. Hardest hit has been the dry bulk sector followed by container ships. Tanker orders have not fallen as dramatically largely because they had already been at lower levels over the past two decades.

In the first seven months of 2020, orders for dry bulk vessels were down by 65 percent versus the prior year. At just over 63 million DWT, the dry bulk order book is at its lowest level in sixteen years according to BIMCO. Further, with the decline in trade volumes and an expected long road to recovery, they do not expect the orderbook will rebound quickly.

Orders for new container ships also were down significantly in the first part of 2020. According to BIMCO's data, container ship orders have fallen nearly 40 percent so far in 2020. That places the total volume for the container ship orderbook at its lowest level since September 2003.

The overall tanker sector is showing the smallest declines due in large part to the fact that orders for new tankers were already at lower levels. BIMCO reports that orders for crude oil tankers were down just over four percent in total DWT while product tanker orders fell 12 percent from year-ago levels. In fact, BIMCO reports that product tankers were the only segment to have reported an increase so far in 2020, up nearly three percent in the first seven months of the year. Orders for crude oil tankers however are down more than 40 percent so far in 2020.

While new orders have been greatly impacted, the long lead-time in construction helped to maintain new ship deliveries. BIMCO reports that new ship deliveries have been more resilient falling just two percent in 2020. Deliveries of new dry bulk carriers were actually up 40 percent in DWT volume so far in 2020 while container ship deliveries were down by nearly the same percentage so far in 2020. Crude oil tanker deliveries are also down 40 percent while product tankers are down by 46 percent so far in 2020.

Efforts by shipowners and operators to manage their fleets and lower costs are also reflected in a strong recent increase in demolition activity. Demolitions measured in DWT were up 50 percent in July versus the year-earlier and 400 percent versus April 2020 when many yards were idled by the pandemic.

As would be expected, the largest increases in demolitions also came in the dry bulk sector up 80 percent year over year while container ship demolitions also increased by a quarter so far in 2020. Product tanker demolitions also increased, 10 percent in DWT, but only two crude oil tankers have been sold for demolition so far in 2020 represented a dramatic decrease versus the year ago.

The sharp uptick in demolitions following the reopening of yards is entirely expected due to the demand shock from the Covid-19 crisis and expectations of a long road to recovery ahead of us. This is reflected in both the higher demolition numbers, with owners pushed to act on older and substandard ships that they had kept sailing until now, as well as the drop in contracting as the outlook for the next few years has become much gloomier than it was at the start of the year, says Peter Sand.

As deliveries continue to outpace the demolition activity, BIMCO reports that in the near term fleet volumes have continued to rise. With trade volumes expected to decline significantly this year and not recovering possibly until 2022, BIMCO however predicts that balance in the shipping markets may be hard to achieve.

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Dramatic Decline in 2020 Shipbuilding Orderbook, Increased Demolitions - The Maritime Executive

Srinagar: A group of 13 Kashmiri Pandits headed by Rakesh today called upon Deputy Commissioner Kupwara, Anshul Garg and apprised him about the fake news that has been viral on Facebook regarding demolition of Temple at Waterkhani Kupwara.

The Pandit group condemned this act and called it a handy work of the mischievous person responsible for circulating the fake news on social media.

The fact is that the temple was damaged due to heavy snowfall in February, this year and the tomb of the Temple had fallen in the nearby LalKhul, said Rakesh.

He added that since there are 500 government employees residing in the Nutnussa migrant colony, the employees decided to contribute some amount to refurbish the said Temple and on Saturday they visited the Waterkhani Temple site and decided to work on its repairs with due permission of concerned Revenue authorities.

In fact, on our request, they assured all possible support and we are to ensure renovation of the Temple on religious basis, said Rakesh, flanked by his fellow members.

We unanimously condemn the act of the mischievous person who is hell-bent upon to vitiate the century-old communal harmony, said Rakesh, adding that he is son of the soil and all the local people and panchs and sarpanchs have assured him support for the renovation of the Temple.

The Deputy Commissioner appreciated the Pandit Community for clearing the air on fake news and simultaneously assured them of every support from administration.

He said the district as a whole does not tolerate the mischievous acts like this and whosoever is behind this mischief should apologize for his mistake for the larger interest of the society.

The DC also said that people should take the utmost care while reacting to such malicious social media news and instead should contact administration for the clarifications. (GNS)

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Pandit community rejects "fake news" regarding demolition of north Kashmir temple - The Kashmir Walla

A panel of industry experts with discuss opportuntiies for recycling construction and demolition waste in the next decade at a free webinar organised by Demolition & Recycling International (D&Ri) on Tuesday 8 September at 15:00 (UK time).

We are delighted to confirm Jacqueline ODonovan, managing director of United Kingdom-based recycling specialist ODonovan Waste Disposal as the first speaker.

Jacqueline has led the family business, which has 185 staff and turns over 20 million (US$26 million), for more than 30 years and has received numerous accolades for her work in the sector, including recently being made a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Waste Management.

Further members of the international line up will be announced in the next few days.

The discussion will be moderated by Steve Ducker, Editor of D&Ri.

To register for the webinar, please click here

The 45-minute webinar will focus on:

There will be an opportunity to put questions to the panellists.

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D&Ri webinar: Construction and Demolition Waste Recycling - KHL Group