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CHINESE BREAKERS TAKE FIRST VLCC OF 2002

By Lucy Hine, London Tradewinds

CHINA, 8 February 2002  -- ChevronTexaco has backed the oil major trend of sending VLCCs to China for what is perceived as more environmentally-friendly scrapping, but has sold the ship to demolition buyers under a new name.

Scrap market players say the 268,244-dwt Chevron Nagasaki (built 1974) has been sold for scrap as the recently renamed Enif Voyager, to Chinese breakers at $126 per ldt. The 28-year-old tanker was built for and has been operated by Chevron throughout its lifetime. Some players are becoming increasingly nervous since environmental activist group Greenpeace launched its campaign 'Operation Final Voyage' to push owners to decontaminate vessels before sending them to breakers in Asia. In April 2001 ChevronTexaco sold the 272,000-dwt Charles Pigott (built 1973) to Chinese buyers for around $174 per ldt.

The sale of Enif Voyager represents Chinese breakers first VLCC buy for 2002. Aside from this sale, so far this year seven ULCCs and VLCCs have been sold for demolition, of which three are going to Bangladesh buyers, three to India, and one to Pakistan. Chinese buyers remain uncompetitive for large tanker tonnage with price levels at around the $120 per ldt, compared to $130 to $135 per ldt for Bangladesh, and India. But an anticipated rush of large tanker tonnage is expected to swamp breakers and push prices down.

This week Tanker Pacific's 232,424-dwt Hikari Orient (built 1975) is being mentioned as a possible scrap candidate.

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