Scrappers are circling two cruiseships last owned by failed Portuguese cruise company Portuscale Cruises.
Lisbon-based Bank Montepio appears to have given up finding trading buyers for two of the oldest cruiseships afloat.
Scrap industry sources told TradeWinds this week that inspections are being invited for the 9,600-gt Funchal (built 1961) and 5,900-gt Porto (built 1965).
Bank Montepio has been in control of the two ships since Portuscale ceased operations in early 2015.
The bank had financed Portuscale’s acquisition and refitting of the ships when it took over the assets of bankrupt Classic International Cruises in 2013.
Although both ships were extensively refitted, the Funchal saw only limited commercial operation, while the Porto went straight into lay-up to await charters that never came.
Bank Montepio had been actively marketing the ships on the secondhand sales market but was unable to find buyers, despite reducing the asking prices on several occasions.
Several deals for the Funchal looked likely, including a potential sale last September to undisclosed Miami-based interests who wanted to operate the ship to Cuba. None ever came to fruition.
Cruise industry observers say the ships are too small and too old to be of interest to any major cruise player. “The cruise market has moved on from ships such as these,” one broker said.
Only one of the former Portuscale ships now under Bank Montepio control continues to operate. The 11,800-gt Astoria (built 1948) is operated on long-term charter to British cruise operator Cruises & Maritime Voyages (CMV).
The operator recently announced that it had extended its charter of the world’s oldest oceangoing cruiseship for one further year due to popular demand.
The other former Portuscale ships appear to be of little interest to CMV as the company has been expanding with increasingly larger ships in recent years.
