A laid-up geophysical survey ship may present a bargain for potential owners in a UK Admiralty auction next month.
Bids are due in for the 69-loa multipurpose survey vessel Poseidon (built 1974) by 3 August, exclusive broker CW Kellock said.
The sale includes navigational aids and survey equipment on board.
"We have a handful of interested parties so far," CW Kellock director Paul Willcox told TradeWinds.
The vessel is in cold lay-up in Hull following a detention by UK port state control officials in 2018.
Inspectors founds 10 deficiencies, with two grounds for detentions: a holed hull and insufficient fire pump pressure.
The vessel was damaged after it hit the berthed, 1,100-dwt product tanker Tecoil Polaris (built 1990), owned by Tecoil Shipping of Russia, while underway in the port on 18 July of that year.
Owner collapsed
The Poseidon was formerly owned by Icelandic survey company Neptune EHF, which has since been liquidated.
The vessel was bought by Neptune in 2009 and extensively overhauled and refurbished.
The Poseidon had been trading in the Arctic, but can work anywhere in the world.
In an inspection of the ship in January, on behalf of ABP Ports, surveyor Van Ameyde McAuslands said: "It is our opinion that this vessel may have various applications such as research, survey, geotechnical and ROV survey work."
"In the current environment, a market appears to have grown regarding expedition and scientific voyages to polar regions," the company added.
Cheap valuations?
Van Ameyde McAuslands provided a guide price of £200,000 ($278,000).
In a second survey in February, Butterworth Marine found "some very small areas of minor corrosion and a small area of historic damage to the port side bow where the plating was slightly set in".
Shipbroker English White Shipping has valued the Poseidon, which is out of class, at $150,000.
Butterworth said this valuation was low and is based upon English White’s view that there seems to be little in the way of a market for the vessel.
Buyer interested?
"We do, however, believe that it might be possible to achieve a higher sale price as we have already been approached by a broker who may have identified a potential interested buyer," Butterworth added.
There has been no ongoing maintenance to its machinery or equipment, but the surveyor said the ship is in "good condition".
The vessel has been the subject of an Admiralty Court case over insurance claims.
The former Hardbakur was insured by Royal & Sun Alliance, with Lodestar Marine as the agent.
Neptune has never disputed liability for the collision.
A judgment was handed down on 24 February 2020 and tanker owner Tecoil was awarded around $525,000 for damage to its ship.
There were further attempts by the insurers to contest liability, but in May, the court was told the matter had been settled in principle.
