Note of information : substandard ship Ocean Pearl
We have been informed through a correspondent in Asia that the Indian owner Prayati Shipping devoted to buying ships to be demolished has acquired the Ocean Pearl IMO 8226650, presently in a Chinese port. Since June 2010 this general cargo carrier built in 1983 is flying the Saint-Kitts-and-Nevis flag, famous to host ships for their last trip.
The life saving and fire fighting equipments are in a very bad condition, especially both lifeboats. Bridge, crew’s cabin and engine equipments are in a deplorable state. In a sanitary point of view the worst is that water aboard is not drinkable. The internal communication system does not work, electrical wiring is not installed properly. The 22 crew members are not paid. According to Prayati Shipping usual business, they are under a nine months contract.
Arctic Alarm
Fifty six years ago today, the Andrea Doria, the Italian star of the transatlantic cruise liner sunk off the coast of New York taking the lives of 47 passengers.
“Shipbreaking” #20
The 20th delivery of Shipbreaking.com Robin des Bois’s editorial success devoted to the scrapping of vessels is on Robin des Bois’s internet newsstand.
This initiative is entirely funded by Robin des Bois.
-45 pages to find out everything on the subject
-Asbestos in new vessels
-The Aristos II (page 8) tanker from Trafigura’s armada- waste in Ivory Coast- which could have been used instead of the Probo Koala sent to be scrapped… in Bangladesh
-The European Union finances the sinking of 57 polluted wrecks in Mauritania!
Hunting down the Onyx (6)
The Onyx has finished her last round of liar’s dice. The old Finnish car ferry already renamed in September before her depart from Vaasa has become too notorious under this patronymic. She was renamed “Kaptain Boris” after calling at Port-Rashid (Dubai).
Her new official owner, Red Line Shipping Ltd is hiding in the tax haven of the Marshall Islands. The ex Onyx, was previously flying a Saint-Kitts and Nevis flag which is ranked on the Memorandum of Paris’ black list as a flag of “high risk”. She has gone down a notch again and is now under a Sierra Leona flag which is listed in the Top 5, flags of “very high risk”.
“Shipbreaking” #19
Between January 1st and April 4th 2010, 233 ships were sent to be demolished. The rhythm remains elevated, with 18 ships per week. In number of ships to be demolished as well as tonnage, India, with 120 ships (42%), remains destination number 1 before Bangladesh with 55 (24%), Pakistan with 25 (11%), and China with 23 (9%). The accumulated demolition will permit the recycling of nearly 2 million tons of metal.
The crisis is over !
The prices offered by the demolition yards have significantly increased and continue to increase in the yards of the Indian subcontinent, but also in China; they have reached $400, even $500 for oil tankers and more for ships containing stainless steel. The record of the trimester was obtained by the Norwegian chemical tanker Spirit, bought for $780 per ton by an Indian yard, a price rarely reached even in 2008.
Hunting down the Onyx (4)
Prayati Shipping PVT, based in Bombay, owner of the car ferry Onyx, confirms its position as a wrecking ship owner. Asian ship-breaking yards appear to be the only destination of the vessels of its “fleet”.
Identified in the summer of 2009 for having sold the old tanker President to a demolition yard in Bangladesh, only a couple of months after having bought it, Prayati Shipping PVT had also become at the same time the owner of the Rose S, a bulk carrier built in 1976 (see “Hunting down the Onyx, February 4, 2010). Today, the owner just got rid of the Onyx which was detained in ports across the world, and which has not sailed since her purchase: the Rose S has just been beached for demolition in Alang.
Hunting down the Onyx (2)
In a letter addressed to Robin des Bois on February 3rd 2010, the Squadron Vice Admiral, Head of the Maritime Authority in the French Atlantic, subjected the departure of the old car ferry Onyx to weather permitting conditions in order to guarantee the safety of the crew members aboard. It appears as though the weather cleared up at around 10:00 am, the time when the Onyx departed. The letter also mentions that the decision to stop the detention of the Onyx would be taken “under the condition that she was taken to a port for repair”. Brest was therefore only the port of handiworks and fast repair.
Hunting down the Onyx (1)
The Onyx is a car ferry which has 30 years of service in Scandinavia under her belt. She was considered as waste by Finland’s Environmental Authority, but as any waste is considered recoverable according to the doctrine of sustainable development she was bought by an Indian ship owner, Prayati Shipping PVT. This company initially claimed that the ex-Casino Express will be used to transport cars in the Middle East and in a second statement that she will undergo transformations in Turkey with the intention of keeping her in service.
