A Greek-controlled capesize that caused some furore last year after a failed sale amid the Chinese-Australian trade brawl, is heading for the scrapyard at a robust price.
Best Oasis and European demolition brokers report the 170,400-dwt An Li (built 2000) has been sold “as is” in Singapore for $415 per ldt, or about $10.2m.
Online data platform IHS Markit shows this is the Alpha Era, whose owner Alpha Bulkers was initially set to sell to Chinese interests back in June at a much lower price of $7.8m.
That deal, however, went sour, after a de facto ban by China on Australian coal imports caused the loaded vessel to idle for several months at Fangcheng port.
Alpha Bulkers filed lawsuits against Chinese charterers for unpaid hire during the protracted idle period. By that time, the company was understood to be seeking a quote for the ship from a well-known cash buyer, as TradeWinds reported in December.
Hong Kong King Shan Group, a company that specialises in elderly capesize tonnage and that had signed up to buy the ship in the initial deal to sell the vessel, felt it was unfairly treated in the affair and saw to it that the ship was arrested.
Contacted by TradeWinds at the time, an Alpha Bulkers official said that the company believed the arrest was without merit and would be dealt with “appropriately”.
What happened next and what circumstances led to a new deal for the ship remains unclear. The significant appreciation of the vessel's scrap value between June and December may have eased a compromise.
According to IHS Markit, Hong Kong King Shan Group features as the vessel’s technical manager, with An Li Ocean as the registered owner.
The sale of the An Li capped a 2020 demolition market that recycling broker Edward Mcilvaney described as most devastating.
He said the recycling sector has faced the same array of challenges that have impacted the secondhand market, with port closures, quarantines and crew changes being made impossible.
But Mcilvaney said he is pleased that 2020 ended up with an almost identical number of sales as in 2019.
Scrap sales of capesizes fared far better than the rest of the shipping industry. According to Clarksons data through to 23 December, scrapped capesize volume rose at an annual pace of 86% year-on-year to 11m dwt.
Capesizes accounted for 76% of all bulker tonnage sold for demolition last year and for almost half of all tonnage heading for the scrapyards.
