The largest ship sold for recycling so far in 2024 is about to arrive in the Danish port of Frederikshavn.
Shell Brazil’s 356,400-dwt FPSO Fluminense (built 1975) will be recycled by the European arm of Louisiana-headquartered Modern American Recycling Services (MARS).
It is scheduled to arrive in Frederikshavn on Friday.
The European Union-approved green recycling facility was inaugurated in 2020 to recycle large offshore assets.
The FPSO Fluminense is the largest project recycling project that MARS has tackled.
The giant vessel, converted from an ultra-large crude carrier by Modec in 2002, has spent the past 20 years in operation for Shell in the Bijupira and Salema oilfields in the Campos Basin off the coast of Brazil.
South Asian sources were disappointed that the ship was not made available for recycling to Hong Kong Convention-approved facilities on the Indian subcontinent.
“We’ve known that the ship would go to Denmark since Shell began the decommissioning and recycling process more than a year ago. They signed a letter of notice to proceed with MARS in May 2023,” an Indian cash buyer to TradeWinds.
“The green yards in India were hoping to get a chance to recycle the ship, but Shell went direct to MARS.”
Pricing details on the contract have not been disclosed in the market.
MARS touts its 280,000-square-metre facility in Frederikshavn as one of the most modern and environmentally sound ship recycling yards in operation. It features a draining system under a surface of granular material of well compacted crushed rock to ensure no harm to ground water.
An advanced waste segregation system ensures a recycling percentage well above 90% and provides an effective and environmentally friendly recycling process, the company says.
Projects carried out at the yard include the recycling of Teekay’s 43,600-dwt FPSO Petrojarl Foinaven (built 1997) and 20,800-dwt FPSO Petrojarl Banff (built 1997).
The FPSO Fluminense was built as the tanker Sea Saint by Swedish shipbuilder Kockums at its Malmo shipyard.
It was originally ordered by Sweden’s Salenrederierna, which operated the ship until 1984, when it was sold to Saudi Arabian interests that would trade it as Safina Sahara.
Modec acquired it for conversion into an FPSO, with Shell Brazil then assuming ownership.
The disappointment of struggling subcontinent ship recyclers at not getting their hands on the FPSO Fluminense is understandable. Reports show that the only ship sold to the world’s largest ship recycling region last week was a Russian fishing vessel sold to an Alang yard.
