Even though too young for demolition, a 15-year-old ship formerly listed with Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) is heading for the scrap yard.
Vessel trackers show the 6,572-teu Flora (built 2008) as docked off Chittagong.
That tallies with separate information by Athens brokers on Monday that the Hanjin Heavy Industry-built ship has been sold for demolition in Bangladesh.
A price has not been disclosed but VesselsValue estimates the Flora’s scrap value at $11.9m.
The ship used to trade as Shahraz in the IRISL fleet. In May 2020, however, it grounded on a rocky outcrop in the Singapore Strait while trying to avoid a collision with a tugboat crossing in its path.
As TradeWinds reported at the time, it took Indonesian salvors 10 months to remove a full load of containers and refloat the ship, which suffered a buckled hull.
Despite its significant hull damage, the ship was taken to China for repairs. MarineTraffic indicates it headed towards Bangladesh this month from Liuheng in China.
In the meantime, several changes occurred to the ship’s status. In April 2022, when the Shahraz was apparently still under repair, it got a new name, flag and ownership.
According to the S&P Global International Ships Register, the ship passed to Honduras-registered Adige Shipping and raised the flag of Syria under its new name of Flora.
Iran and Syria are subject to stringent US sanctions.
Despite the particulars of the case, demolition of the Flora provides impetus to a trend in which a growing number of shipowners, especially in Asia, are screening scrap prices to see what value they can extract from their older assets.
According to Clarksons, as of 21 April, container ships accounted for nearly one-fifth of the 3.2m dwt of tonnage sold for scrap this year. In 2022, when boxships were still enjoying stellar freight rates in the wake of the coronavirus crisis, the share was a negligible 1.7%.
In 2023, it is tankers that are being withheld from the demolition market. According to Clarksons, crude oil and product carriers accounted for just 6.3% of shipping tonnage scrapped since 1 January.
