Norway's JJ Ugland is exiting the shuttle tanker business as a shipowner after selling its last vessel for demolition.
European scrap brokers said the Grimstad-based shipowner's 125,000-dwt Vinland (built 2000) has been sold to Turkey in an off-market deal worth close to $18.5m.
The tanker was due for special survey in August of this year.
Company chief executive Oystein Beisland confirmed that the tanker was sold for demolition and that the Vinland will be demolished for green recycling at a yard accepted by the European Union.
JJ Ugland has a long tradition of operating shuttle tankers in the North Sea, but Beisland has earlier said that it is increasingly challenging for a small player to compete with the two big players in the segment, Altera Infrastructure and Knutsen NYK Offshore Tankers.
The Vinland has lately been on a short-termtime charter to Equinor after it was previously locked into a long-term charter with Brazil's Petrobras.
Beisland said that JJ Ugland has no immediate plans of returning to the shuttle tanker business at the moment.
“But we have a long track record in the segment, so we shall never say never,” he said.
JJ Ugland is now primarily be involved in the dry bulk business with supramax and ultramax bulkers.
The company is still involved in technical operation of shuttle tankers through subsidiary Canship Ugland in Canada.
