Idan Ofer’s Eastern Pacific Shipping is in the process of selling a large ore carrier for demolition, though the impact of the coronavirus on the recycling sector is leading to some doubts.
Talk of a potential deal comes coronavirus is now having a serious impact on the demolition market, with several deals cancelled and the status of others unclear.
Some demolition brokers said the Singapore shipowner's 290,000-dwt Shagang Giant (built 1993) has been committed for demolition in India for $370 per ldt, or a total of $14.6m.
Another demolition source stressed that the deal has not yet been finalised, with severe market pressure leading to fewer deals closing.
The Shagang Giant will be scrapped according to the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships.
The deal marks Eastern Pacific's first scrap sale of a large bulker in five years.
The bulker is not due for special survey until August 2023.
Eastern Pacific paid $52m to purchase the ship from US and Oslo-listed Frontline in Marhc 2001, when it was the Front Tarim.
The company's only other large ore carrier of this vintage is the 266,000-dwt Handan Spirit (built 1994).
