A Chinese-owned livestock carrier deemed abandoned by its owners in Australia and ordered sold will go under the hammer on 10 February.
Soar Harmony Shipping’s 11,670-gt Yangtze Fortune (built 2005) will be sold via a sealed tender auction, with Australian Independent Shipbrokers appointed to handle the judicial sale.
The Yangtze Fortune has been languishing at Portland — a port in the Australian state of Victoria — since the end of September 2022. Its crew reported a crack in the hull after it arrived from China to load 5,200 head of breeder livestock.
With repairs slow in coming, creditors moved to arrest the Yangtse Fortune. Livestock exporter Australasian Global Exports filed a $2.96m claim against the vessel for the breach of a booking note. Shortly thereafter, the Singapore arm of Danish bunker supplier Dan-Bunkering filed a $549,000 claim for bunkers supplied to the ship last June.
Other subsequent claims and caveats filed against the ship were filed by China Merchants Energy Trading for bunkers, RMS Marine & Offshore Service for supplies, and UMMS Projects and Livestock for technical management and crewing fees.
Federal Court of Australia judge Justice J Stewart ordered the ship sold last December, saying Soar Harmony had not provided any affidavit or submissions opposing the judicial sale of the vessel, and it had not appeared at the hearing, despite being given ample time to do so.
Meanwhile, the judge said a large crew on board the ship was going unpaid, and the costs of keeping them fed, and keeping the ship afloat, were mounting. At the same time, he noted the ship was deteriorating and its value eroding.
The Yangzte Fortune, together with its identical sister ship Yangtze Harmony (built 2004), were converted from container vessels in 2017 by Sinomarine Livestock Carriers, a joint venture between Sinotrans and CSC. They were used to launch an export trade of live cows from Australia to China.
The Yangtze Harmony has been under arrest in Singapore since 25 October due to unpaid towing and bunker bills.
