Indian ship recyclers are set to scrap a cruiseship that German operator Phoenix Reisen sold to Egypt’s Pickalbatros Hotel chain last September for conversion into a floating resort.
The sale for recycling of the 28,500-gt Albatros (built 1973) brings the number of cruiseships scrapped as a result of the pandemic to 25, with the total volume of tonnage removed from the market now breaching the 1m gt mark.
The ship recently departed the Egyptian resort town of Hurghada and, after stopping at Jeddah in Saudi Arabia for bunkers, was en route to Alang on Monday, according to its AIS broadcasts.
Although being among the oldest cruiseships afloat, the Albatros was nevertheless a popular unit of the Phoenix fleet of five vessels until Covid-19 shut down the cruise industry in March 2020.
Michael Schulze, Phoenix’s director of sea travel, said at the time the ship was sold that the cruise company had hoped to celebrate the 50th birthday of the Albatros in 2023 with a series of anniversary cruises.
However, he said the impact of coronavirus forced a change of plan, as the running costs of keeping the ship in lay-up, together with the associated collapse in sales, ultimately left it with no other choice but to sell.
Pickalbatros, which operates 15 resort hotels at Egyptian beach holiday destinations, has also been forced to rethink its commitment to the capital expenditure required to convert the ship as the shutdown of global tourism stretches well into its second year, sources close to the company said.
On the positive side, Pickalbatros was said to have only paid close to the scrap value of the Albatros when it was acquired through vessel-owning entity Egyptian Swiss Co for Tourism, and could therefore even make a small profit on the ship due to current high scrap prices.
VesselsValue estimated its scrap value to have been in the region of $5.3m last September, but estimates its value to be $8.86m today.
The Albatros, as Royal Viking Sea, was the last of three identical sisterships built by Wartsila in Finland for Royal Viking Line, an upmarket cruise company formed by Norwegian shipowners Bergenske Dampskibsselskab, Nordenfjeldske Dampskibsselskab and AF Klaveness & Co.
The ships remained top of the cruise game for more than two decades, before moving on to other owners.
The trio, all of which were heavily refurbished and re-engined in the early 2000s, continued successfully in service until their sailing careers were brought to an unexpectedly abrupt halt by Covid-19.
Fred Olsen Cruises owned the other two sisterships, which were named Boudicca (built 1973) and Black Watch (built 1972), but sold them to Turkish interests last September for use as accommodation ships after buying two larger, newer vessels at bargain prices from Carnival Corp’s Holland America Line.
In May, the Boudicca was sold for recycling in Turkey.
With the Albatros heading for the beach at Alang, the Black Watch will soon be the last of the trio left.
