South Korea’s Sinokor Merchant Marine has offloaded one of its aged LNG carriers for recycling — the third ship in this sector to be scrapped this year.
Brokers said the nearly 45-year-old Coral Energy, anchored in the layup waters of Labuan in Malaysia, has been sold on an as-is basis to an undisclosed demo cash buyer.
Market sources show a price tag of $555 per ldt for the General Dynamics-built 126,400 cu m steam turbine carrier Sinokor picked up as LNG Virgo from American Overseas Marine in 2017.
The company is currently listed with seven LNG ships, including the Coral Energy and two 1978 General Dynamics-built sister vessels, Bering Energy and Gulf Energy.
The Coral Energy is the third LNG carrier set for a demo yard in 2024, after the 1996-built 19,474 cu m Surya Aki and the 1994-built 127,125 cu m YK Sovereign.
Sinokor has been hoovering up VLCC tonnage this year with eight ships bought while taking advantage of the surge in secondhand prices to cash in on modern newcastlemaxes as well as MR2 tankers in an 8-ship cash and stock deal with Denmark’s Torm.
Earlier this year, the Seoul-headquartered company picked up five VLCCs built in 2009 and 2010 from John Fredriksen’s Frontline for $290m and three units from Belgian counterpart Euronav for around $155m.
In April, Sinokor also offloaded three boxships built between 1995 and 1999 for demo in Bangladesh.
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