South Korea’s Sinokor Merchant Marine has agreed the demolition sale of one of its laid-up LNG carriers.

Shipbrokers said the company has achieved a price of just over $639 per ldt on the 126,530-cbm, Moss-type Caribbean Energy (ex-Gaea, built 1980). At that price, Sinokor is selling the 30,652-ldt vessel for around $19.6m.

The strong price is believed to reflect some 3,500 tonnes of aluminium content in the ship.

The 41-year-old LNG carrier, which is understood to have been bought by cash buyer GMS, is due to be towed to Bangladesh. But the deal involves an option to deliver the ship to a recycling centre in Gadani, Pakistan.

TradeWinds reported in April that Sinokor was in talks to sell the Caribbean Energy.

At the time, brokers said the shipowner had already received some strong offers of over $560 per ldt but said Sinokor appeared to be holding out for a higher price.

The expectation was that the ship would be broken up in India. But the surge in Covid-19 cases and desperate shortage of oxygen within the country has halted demolition activities.

Long lay-up

The Caribbean Energy served a large part of its life as the LNG Abuja working for the Nigeria LNG project.

Sinokor appears to have paid $13.3m for the ship in 2016 but has remained laid up since it was first parked by Nigeria LNG two years earlier.

The vessel is the third LNG carrier sold by Sinokor in the last six months. The company, which is listed as having another nine LNG carriers laid up, scrapped the 135,293-cbm Pacific Energy (ex-LNG Bonny, built 1981) and 133,000-cbm Atlantic Energy (ex-LNG Finima, built 1984) in late 2020.

The Caribbean Energy is the second LNG carrier to be sold for scrap this year, following the disposal of the Sonatrach-controlled 126,130-cbm Ramdane Abane (built 1981).

Malaysia’s MISC Berhad has also invited sales offers on its 130,400-cbm LNG carrier Puteri Firus (built 1997). These could include bids for trading or scrap.

Last year, six LNG carriers were sold for demolition, among the highest yearly totals for this type of vessel, and there is an expectation that numbers may rise again in 2021 as more modern vessels join the global fleet.