Singapore’s High Court will auction a Soar Harmony Shipping-owned livestock carrier that has been under arrest since October last year.
The 11,670-gt Yangtze Harmony (built 2004) is to be sold via a sealed bid process, with offers for the vessel due in at the Sheriff of Singapore’s office on 8 March.
The auction comes as the Federal Court of Australia attempts to finalise the auction sale of Soar Harmony’s second livestock carrier, the identical Yangtze Fortune (built 2005).
Both ships were converted from container vessels in 2017 by Sinomarine Livestock Carriers, a joint venture between Sinotrans and CSC.
They were used to launch an export trade of live cows from Australia to China.
Soar Harmony later assumed ownership of the pair and ran into financial troubles that eventually led to their arrests.
The Yangtze Harmony broke down on a voyage to Australia in 2022 and was towed to the Paxocean shipyard in Singapore for repairs.
There is was subsequently arrested for unpaid towing and bunker bills.
A pre-auction survey of the ship found its hull to be sound and serviceable but noted that among several defects needing attention, the main engine required repairs and the crankshaft needed to be replaced.
Sister vessel Yangtze Fortune has been languishing in the Australian port of Portland since the end of September 2022.
Its crew reported a crack in the hull after it arrived from China to load 5,200 head of breeder livestock, and it was later arrested by numerous other creditors.
Considering the ship as being abandoned, the ship auctioned via a sealed tender process carried out Sydney-based Australian Independent Shipbrokers on 10 February.
The auction process has not gone without a hitch. Court documents indicate that Apollo Marine & Offshore Services, a Hong Kong-registered entity, submitted an $8.5m bid for the Yangtze Fortune.
However, this company was unable to submit the 10% deposit on the ship within the stipulated five days citing “investor delays”.
On Monday Federal Court of Australia judge Justice J. Stewart cancelled the sale and ordered that the livestock carrier be sold to the submitter of the second highest bid. The identity of this bidder and the value of the bid were not disclosed.
