Fred Olsen Cruise Lines is standing up for its environmental performance after a Norwegian environmental group raised questions about the disposal of an elderly cruiseship.
The Norwegian-controlled, UK-based passengership owner sold the 28,600-gt sisterships Black Watch (built 1972) and Boudicca (built 1973) last year for use in an unidentified accommodation project.
TradeWinds reported on 11 June that Norwegian environmental organisation Bellona had called for greater transparency after one of the ships, the Boudicca, subsequently turned up at a Turkish scrapping facility.
The transaction led observers in the green ship-breaking industry to ask whether the transaction was a scrapping sale in disguise.
But in a written statement to TradeWinds, managing director Peter Deer said the company had carried out an inventory of hazardous materials (IHM) and also that it imposed contractual terms to ensure responsible scrapping at the end of the vessel's life.
The seller also took steps to make sure the buyer's purpose was a verifiable, although brief, third-party project.
“Boudicca was sold last year, under a legal contract stipulating that the ship would be used for accommodation for six to eight months," wrote Deer. "A contract proving the accommodation use was in place was also a condition of the sale."
TradeWinds reported in May that sources believed the vessel had not been used for accommodation before turning up in the hands of a cash buyer, Ersay Ship Recycling.
Deer indicated that the eventual demolition of the ship was subject to contractual terms as well.
“The buyers signed an undertaking that the ship would be recycled at the end of its trading life at a certified yard in accordance with the terms of the Hong Kong Convention and laws at a fully certified ship-recycling facility in Turkey able to perform proper green recycling," he wrote.
“Fred Olsen took all the necessary steps to advise the buyers of any hazardous materials, including providing an IHM prior to the sale. The buyers also undertook that any removal or disposal of hazardous material would be carried out by a dedicated and specialised team in compliance with the law.”
Meanwhile, the disposition of the Black Watch remains unknown, as does the identity of the party that bought the ships from Fred Olsen and the price.
Some details of the transaction have been disclosed in financial filings by Oslo-listed Bonheur, the company that owns Fred Olsen Cruise Lines and also holds a majority stake in the company that publishes this newspaper.
Last July, Fred Olsen Cruise Lines renewed its fleet with the purchase of two Holland America Line ships from Carnival Corp for some $37m, the 1,380-berth Amsterdam (built 2000) and 1,404-berth Rotterdam (built 1997), renamed Borealis and Bolette, respectively.
Then in September, it sold the laid-up Boudicca and Black Watch for a price that was not disclosed. The deal went into Bonheur's third-quarter results as a NOK 187m ($22.6m) impairment, upped to NOK 197m in the 2020 annual report.
