A 51-year-old product tanker built during the height of the Cold War to support the Soviet Union’s global naval ambitions has ended its long career on the ship recycling beach in Bangladesh’s Chattogram.
The 15,000-dwt Vladimir Kolechitskiy (built 1972) was beached on 13 August after serving both the Soviet Union and Russian navies.
The ship was the only tanker in a clutch of bulk carriers and container ships that brokers and cash buyers reported as being sold for recycling in Bangladesh over the past week.
The Vladimir Kolechitskiy was sold for an undisclosed price and delivered to Chattogram under tow while flying the flag of Sierra Leone.
The ancient tanker was one of six Boris Chilikin-class fleet replenishment tankers that the Soviet Union built in the early 1970s to supply fuel to naval vessels as they conducted their escapades around the globe. It was attached to the Pacific Fleet based out of Vladivostok.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, the ship became the property of the Russian Navy until it was decommissioned in 2012.
The S&P Global international ships register indicates that the vessel was sold in April 2021 to Vladivostok-based ZP-Group.
The ship does not appear to have traded while under this company’s ownership as photos posted online in subsequent years showed it remaining in lay-up in Nakhodka in an increasingly decrepit state.
The past week saw recyclers in Bangladesh increase their haul of demolition tonnage despite prices largely remaining below $500 per ldt. Indian and Pakistani recyclers sat on the sidelines and were not reported to have bought any tonnage.
The biggest contributors of tonnage to Bangladesh over the past week were Chinese bulker owners, who continued to unload unwanted vessels.
Ningbo Marine Group was reported to have sold two bulkers to cash buyers on an “as is” basis in China for redelivery to Bangladesh.
Sold were the 1990-built, 42,000-dwt Ming Zhou 25 for $408 per ldt, or $2.58m, and the 52,600-dwt Ming Zhou 58 for $428 per ldt, or $5.7m.
The Ming Zhou 25 was reported to have been sold for recycling in February, although TradeWinds understands that the deal subsequently failed due to market volatility prevalent at the time.
Lianyungang Huamin Shipping has also reportedly sold its 14,800-dwt general cargo ship Jin Yuan Sheng 9 (built 2007) on a delivered basis to Chattogram for $490 per ldt, or $1.5m.
While prices for bulk carriers remained below the $500-per-ldt mark, Bangladeshi recyclers were willing to pay a hefty premium for feeder-size container ships.
Straits Orient Lines of Singapore was reported to have sold the 1,730-teu SOL Hind (built 1996) for $564 per ldt, or $4.42m, the same per ldt price that Sinokor Merchant Marine obtained for its 834-teu Sinokor Akits (built 1998), although the ship’s smaller size resulted in a lower overall price of $2.63m.
Brokers said the price discrepancy between current market levels and what was paid for these two container ships is due to stiff competition in Bangladesh for smaller tonnage.
Ship recyclers are able to pay for these smaller ships using their own financial resources without needing to obtain letters of credit, something that is all but impossible in the country’s current financial state.
