James Marshall-led Berge Bulk has sold yet another large vessel for demolition. European scrap brokers said the Singapore shipowner has sold the 290,000-dwt ore carrier Berge Vinson for demolition in Bangladesh at between $395 per ldt and $398 per ldt. That equates to a total price of at least $15m.

The price tag includes 350 tonnes of bunkers onboard, and TradeWinds is told that the buyers have to pay for the vessel within 24 hours of arrival and arrange at their own expenses for approval by authorities at the site. The ship was put up for sale last month.

Some demolition brokers find it strange that a significant player like Berge Bulk appears to prefer the traditional but controversial beaching method to scrap tonnage.

Berge Bulk declined to comment on the sale and its scrap procedures.

The company purchased the Berge Vinson from Sinotrans for $36m in May 2008, when it was the Ness. It is not due for special survey until July 2022.

Berge Bulk had already sold three large ore carriers for scrap this year: the 289,000-dwt Berge Denali, the 263,000-dwt Berge Manaslu (both built 1992) and the 289,000-dwt Berge Bureya (built 1993).

The oldest ship in its fleet is the 364,000-dwt Berge Stahl (built 1986), which spent 25 years as the biggest bulker in the world.

Berge Bulk has some 60 large bulkers, including newbuildings, and 11 vessels of supramax size and smaller.