Cutting ships apart for scrap is some of the most dangerous work on the water — and the law protects the people who do it.
Brownsville is the country's ship-recycling capital, where retired Navy carriers and merchant vessels are torn down for steel. The workers who dismantle them are covered by federal maritime law — and a serious injury is rarely just a comp claim.
What law covers my injury at the Port of Brownsville?
Cutting ships apart for scrap is some of the most dangerous work on the water. It depends on the work you were doing. A longshoreman, stevedore, or shipyard worker loading, unloading, building, or repairing vessels is generally covered by the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act (LHWCA), which also allows a third-party claim against a negligent vessel owner. A crew member on a harbor vessel, such as a tug, crew boat, or bunkering vessel, is usually a Jones Act seaman instead. The classification decides your remedies, and it is frequently contested.
Key takeaways
- Longshore, dock, and shipyard workers are generally covered by the Longshore Act (LHWCA).
- Crew on harbor vessels (tugs, crew boats, bunkering vessels) are usually Jones Act seamen.
- The LHWCA also allows a third-party ‘905(b)’ claim against a negligent vessel owner.
- The classification, longshoreman or seaman, decides your remedies and is frequently contested.
- Report the injury in writing and preserve evidence early.
The country's shipbreaking capital.
The Port of Brownsville, at the southern tip of Texas, is the only deepwater seaport directly on the U.S.–Mexico border, reached by a seventeen-mile channel from the Gulf — and it is the premier U.S. port for ship recycling. A cluster of major shipbreaking yards there captures the large majority of U.S. Navy and Maritime Administration vessel-recycling work, dismantling everything from Cold War aircraft carriers to merchant ships and the government's mothballed "ghost fleet." It is also a bulk and breakbulk port handling steel, scrap, ores, grain, wind-turbine components, and project cargo, and it anchors the southern end of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.
The workforce is built around the yards: torch cutters and burners, riggers, crane and heavy-equipment operators, laborers, and the longshore crews handling steel and bulk cargo, alongside the towboat and barge crews that move vessels and product through the channel.
The injuries ship recycling produces.
Dismantling a steel ship by hand is relentlessly hazardous work. Cutting-torch burns and fires when residual fuels, oils, or vapors ignite. Falls from height as the structure is taken down from the top and the deck levels drop away. Crush and struck-by injuries from falling or collapsing steel, plate, and rigging. Caught-between and machinery injuries during cutting and lifting. Confined-space incidents in tanks and voids. And toxic exposure — asbestos, lead paint, PCBs, and chemical residue that older vessels carry. Layered on top are the bulk-cargo, crane, and vessel injuries common to any working port. Behind the worst of them is usually inadequate fall protection, a failure to make a space or a structure safe before sending workers into it, or defective equipment.
The Longshore Act — and what runs alongside it.
Ship recycling and ship repair are classic maritime employment. Shipbreaking-yard workers are generally "harbor workers" covered by the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act — but, as everywhere, the LHWCA is the floor, and a serious injury usually supports more than the comp benefit.
No-fault compensation benefits for covered shipbreaking, shipyard, and harbor workers — the starting point, not the limit.
Where a vessel's negligence injures a covered worker, § 905(b) allows a full-damages claim against the vessel interest, on top of comp.
Defective cutting, rigging, or lifting equipment, or another contractor's negligence, can support a separate claim against the responsible company.
A maritime worker who falls outside LHWCA coverage may still reach the older unseaworthiness remedy under the Sieracki doctrine; a vessel crew member is a Jones Act seaman.
Sorting out which of these applies — and identifying every responsible party beyond the immediate employer — is what determines whether a catastrophic shipbreaking injury is treated as a limited comp claim or a full recovery.
A torch-burn or a fall in a scrapping yard is a Longshore claim — and often a case against the vessel or an equipment maker on top of it.
Sound like your situation? Calling us is confidential, costs nothing, and starts nothing you don’t choose to start.
Text (713) 489-2297A Texas firm that tries these cases.
Doyle Dennis Avery is a Houston maritime trial firm representing injured workers across the Texas Gulf Coast. The firm's work covers the framework that governs a shipbreaking injury — the § 905(b) vessel-negligence duties, the status and coverage questions that decide which remedy applies, and the residual Sieracki doctrine for workers in the gap — plus the work of finding and pursuing every responsible party, not just the comp carrier.
If you or a family member was hurt in a Brownsville shipbreaking yard, on the docks, or on a vessel in the channel, the early work of identifying who is responsible and which law applies is what protects the value of the claim.
What the other side will argue — and how it’s met.
Work in and around the Port of Brownsville can put you under the LHWCA, a §905(b) vessel claim, or the Jones Act — the threshold sorted out above. Whichever regime applies, the merits defenses are the same.
The Jones Act uses pure comparative negligence, so a worker’s own fault reduces a recovery but never bars it — and the hazard is usually the company’s. A jury once found the injured worker zero percent at fault.
Under the featherweight causation standard, an employer takes its worker as it finds him; lighting up a silent or prior condition is a compensable injury, not a defense.
A worker does not need unseaworthiness to win. Employer negligence under the Jones Act stands on its own — a jury can find negligence even where it does not find the vessel unseaworthy.
Insurers hire investigators to film injured workers for weeks and usually find nothing, while the treating physicians and the medical record carry the truth.
A port case is about the vessel, the dock, and the gap between them.
Injuries around the Port of Brownsville happen on vessels, on docks, and in the transfer between them — cargo work, mooring, gangways, cranes, and slips. The firm reconstructs the operation and uses a marine-safety expert to set custom and practice, then proves status where a worker is a seaman and preserves the LHWCA and §905(b) alternatives where he is not. The vessel and terminal records, the JSA, and the worker’s assignment history carry the case.
The waterfront is where vessels, docks, and crews collide — and where the safe method is never optional.
What to protect while it still exists.
Terminal and vessel records turn over quickly; the early steps protect them.
Photograph the scene and equipment, identify the vessel and the gear involved, and preserve the terminal and vessel records, the JSA, and your assignment history before the next operation erases the scene.
Make sure a written incident report is created and, for a serious injury, that the vessel files a Coast Guard marine-casualty report (Form CG‑2692).
See a doctor promptly and describe exactly how the injury happened to every provider. An honest, contemporaneous record is the backbone of the case.
You are not required to give the insurer a recorded statement, and early “I’m okay” remarks get used against you. Get advice before signing.
Frequently asked questions about injury claims at the Port of Brownsville
Am I covered by the Longshore Act or the Jones Act?
It depends on your work. A maritime worker on the docks or in a shipyard, loading, unloading, building, or repairing vessels, is generally covered by the Longshore Act. A crew member with a substantial connection to a vessel in navigation, such as a tug or crew boat, is usually a Jones Act seaman instead.
What is the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act (LHWCA)?
The LHWCA is a federal compensation law for maritime workers, such as longshoremen and harbor and shipyard workers, who are injured on navigable waters or the adjoining areas used to load, unload, build, or repair vessels, and who are not Jones Act seamen.
Can a longshoreman sue the vessel owner?
Yes. In addition to Longshore Act compensation, Section 905(b) of the LHWCA lets a longshoreman bring a third-party negligence claim against the owner of the vessel, which can provide a recovery beyond the compensation benefits.
Am I a Jones Act seaman if I work on a harbor tug or crew boat?
Often, yes. If you have a substantial connection to a vessel in navigation, in both duration and the nature of your work, you are likely a Jones Act seaman rather than a Longshore worker, even if the vessel rarely leaves the harbor.
What is the difference between the Longshore Act and state workers' compensation?
The Longshore Act is a federal program with generally broader benefits than state comp, and it preserves the right to sue a negligent vessel owner. Maritime workers covered by the LHWCA are usually outside the state workers' compensation system.
What kind of work happens at the Port of Brownsville?
The Port of Brownsville is a major ship-breaking and recycling center, among the most dangerous maritime work there is, alongside general cargo and offshore-fabrication operations.
What should you do after an injury at the Port of Brownsville?
Get medical care and make sure the injury is reported in writing. Preserve evidence early, including incident reports, photos, equipment, and witness names, and do not give a recorded statement or sign anything before talking to a lawyer.
What happens when you text us
Tell us what happened — in your own words, as much or as little as you want.
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Reach out even if…
- You think the accident was partly your fault — under the Jones Act, your own fault reduces a recovery but does not bar it.
- You already gave a statement or signed something — a release signed under pressure can be challenged.
- You still work for the company — talking to a lawyer is confidential, and retaliation for pursuing a claim can itself be actionable.
- You’re not sure your case is “big enough” — that’s exactly what a free review is for.
Hurt in a shipbreaking yard? You have more than a comp claim.
Doyle Dennis Avery LLP represents ship-recycling and shipyard workers, longshore and bulk-cargo workers, and barge and vessel crews injured at the Port of Brownsville. A case review costs nothing, there is no obligation, and your employer will not know you contacted us.
This page is general information, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Whether the LHWCA, § 905(b), a third-party claim, the Sieracki doctrine, the Jones Act, or another body of law applies to a given injury depends on the specific facts, including the worker's duties and the circumstances of the injury. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome. Doyle Dennis Avery LLP · Houston, Texas. This is attorney advertising.
