Ask a yard buyer which abrasive is cheaper and the answer is instant: copper slag, by a wide margin per bag. Ask the blast foreman which gets the ship out faster and the conversation gets more interesting.
What copper slag does well
Copper slag is angular, aggressive and cheap, the standard expendable abrasive in shipyards worldwide. It cuts heavy corrosion and multi coat marine systems effectively, achieves ISO 8501-1 Sa 2.5 routinely, and its low free silica content sidesteps the silicosis hazard that has restricted sand. Used once and disposed of, it keeps logistics simple: bags in, spent grit out.
What garnet changes
Garnet costs several times more per bag and often still wins on total cost where conditions allow. It blasts faster per square metre, so labour and compressor hours drop. It generates visibly less dust, which matters for adjacent trades, containment and visibility inside tanks. Lower embedment leaves cleaner steel, and in contained recovery setups garnet recycles several times, transforming the per use economics. Consumption per square metre is also markedly lower.
The honest decision rule
Open air hull blasting with cheap disposal and no recovery: copper slag earns its dominance. Tank internals, confined spaces, dust sensitive berths, or any operation with recovery equipment: garnet usually wins the full costing. Many UAE yards run both, slag outside and garnet inside, which is exactly what we stock for.
Whichever grit, the clock is the same
Blasted steel in Gulf humidity wants primer the same day. Plan blast areas to what can be coated before flash rust, not to what the crew can blast.
MENA Industrial Supplies stocks both abrasives in Dubai with same day quotation and delivery to yards across the UAE, alongside the primers that follow the blast.