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COSTA SCRAPS RIVIERA

By Jonathan Boonzaier, Singapore Tradewinds

SINGAPORE, 8 February 2002 -- Costa Crociere has sold its 30,325-gt cruiseship Costa Riviera (built 1963) for scrap after failing to find a buyer willing to take the ship for further trading.

The 1,472-passenger Costa Riviera, which was withdrawn from service last November, has been sold to US-based cash buyer Global Marketing Systems for $1.76 million. It will be scrapped in India.

Costa had been actively marketing the ship for further trading at around $25m last year, with market rumours pointing to Louis Cruises as a potential buyer. But the company´s hopes failed after the events of 11 September, when the market for veteran steam turbine-powered vessels all but vanished.

The Costa Riviera was built as Lloyd Triestino´s Guglielmo Marconi, which together with its sistership Galileo Galilei operated an express service between Europe and Australia.

After enduring several years in layup during the late 1970s and early 1980s, the ship moved to Costa in 1983. It was heavily rebuilt by T Mariotti Shipyard and re-entered service as a Caribbean cruiseship in 1985. Costa used the ship in European waters after it operated a very brief stint as the American Adventure for Bruce Nierenberg´s ill-fated American Family Cruises in early 1994.

The Costa Riviera´s career ended in May 1999 when it burned and sank in the Straits of Malacca. It was operating as the Singaporean-owned Sun Vista.

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