A new wave of passengerships is hitting the recycling beach at Alang in India.
Unlike many sales in and 2020 and 2021, these vessels are being driven out of the market by old age rather than Covid-19.
In the first weeks of October, two hybrid passenger-cargo ships and three ropaxes arrived at Alang.
Passengerships traditionally sell at a discount to other types of commercial vessels that are easier and quicker to recycle, but two recent arrivals sold by the Andaman & Nicobar Administration have provided some clarity on pricing levels that Indian ship breakers are paying for passenger tonnage.
The Szczecinska Shipyard-constructed 14,200-gt passenger-cargo ships Nancowry (built 1996) and Nicobar (built 1991) spent their careers under the management of the Shipping Corporation of India, operating liner services across the Bay of Bengal.
Both ships were recently retired after being replaced by two ropax newbuildings.
Indian recycling sources told TradeWinds that the Nancowry was sold for $4.46m, which equates to a scrap price of $567 per ldt.
The Nicobar, which was said to have been sold in a dead-ship state, went for $3.6m, or $456 per ldt.
The Indian-owned pair join three recent ropax arrivals at Alang.
The largest of these is the 25,400-gt ropax Lotus (built 1986), which IHS Markit indicated had passed through the hands of several Singapore-based cash buyers after being acquired as the Odeep One from French company OFW Finance in July.
The Lotus was reportedly beached on Wednesday at the plot of Jai Jagdish Ship Breakers, a Hong Kong Convention (HKC) certified facility.
Greek veteran
Anupama Steel, another HKC-certified facility, took delivery of the 12,300-gt ropax Rigel I (built 1973) at its beachfront plot on 9 October.
The vessel was sold for green recycling by Nobel Maritime, the shipowning arm of Greek ferry operator Ventouris Ferries.
The Rigel I was renamed Roger for its delivery voyage. It was replaced in Ventouris' Adriatic ferry services by the 9,900-gt ropax Rigel VII (built 1994), which was acquired from Japan's Shikoku Kaihatsu Ferry in late 2019 and extensively refitted last year.
Another former ropax that was beached at Alang during the first week of October was Canadian floating accommodation company Bridgemans Services' 17,900-gt offshore accommodation and repair vessel Bluefort (built 1979).
TradeWinds reported that the Bluefort was heading to Alang on 22 September, but at the time was unable to confirm with Bridgemans that it was to be recycled.
