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Back to SSG 08
In Nigeria no one cares about an abandoned ship. The Vitta Theresa has been lying like this on the breakwater of port of Lagos since January 2006. Photo: Vladimir Knyaz
Old tankers become bunker barges in Nigeria
The ban on single hull tankers has sent an armada of older coastal tankers on a voyage to Nigeria in West Africa. A large number of these often well maintained tankers would take another turn in the delivery of oil products in the busy waters off Nigeria.
Nigeria has a large oil business off the coast, where huge fleets of bunker barges supply the needs of ships passing by.
The bunker business of Nigeria has developed over the recent years, as the oil is relatively cheap not so far from the oil wells, in combination with Nigerian needs of foreign currency.
Concerning the older single tankers, Nigeria is quite relaxed about the potential danger of pollution. Oil pollution does not have the same political attention there as it does in Europe. No one, except the local residents, cares when an oil pipeline is leaking, but when the locals care it is because they often caused the leak. It is not unusual that they puncture the pipeline in order to get some of the oil for their private use. This is often fatal, as the crude oil or gasoline in the pipelines is highly explosive and often goes off during the work of penetrating the pipeline.
The sale of tankers to West Africa cannot be considered as exports of old tankers, as they are usually maintained at a high level, but their problem is the age and the fact that they are only single hull. The latest requirement for tankers is that all, including bunker barges, shall be double hull units. So a number of units have been squeezed out from the market in recent years.
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The absolute veteran in the Danish bunker fleet is Haahr Trumf, built in 1964 but still maintained to top level. Photo: Bent Mikkelsen |
Age is the problem
Around the turn of the year from 2006 to 2007 some six tankers were sold to Nigeria to continue service in bunker operations off Nigeria. The Danish flagged Oratank, a veteran from 1968, was sold to Nigeria. It comes from Rederiet M H Simonsen and has been maintained at a very high level, but this does not matter in the IMO convention after the end of 2006. There is no ban on the ships sailing, but they will only be allowed to sail with water and similar unharmful products.
“No matter how much we maintained the ship we could not use it for anything”, explains Lars Simonsen, CEO of M H Simonsen. “In fact we sold it for breaking up as the second of two, but the breakers managed to find a buyer for the ship and this is OK with us”, he adds.
On the same course as the Oratank is the Norwegian owned and Cook Islands flagged Gevostar, which has been sold to the same owners in Nigeria. Both had been lying in Grenå, Denmark, for some time before sailing down to Nigeria.
Dragged down the average age
Furthermore, the Dutch owned Charlotte Theresa, a rebuilt dry cargo vessel, has been sold to Nigeria to continue working as a tanker. The ship has been on charter to Danish Herning Shipping, but was redelivered at the end of 2006 for the same reasons. The tanker did not fulfil the requirement as a double hull tanker, despite the naturally double hull. Furthermore Herning Shipping has terminated some of its chartering contracts with ships of a certain age in order to bring down the average age of the fleet. The Herning Shipping tanker Pia Theresa survived in North European waters under Danish flag. It was sold to the Norwegian operation Soltin Maritime and is expected to be running in the offshore business with chemicals for oil wells instead of edible oil as until the sale. The well maintained ship with stainless steel tanks and some void space in the cargo hold was sold off for reasons of age. The tanker was built in 1976 and dragged down the average of the Herning fleet.
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Oratank was a spotless Danish tanker built 1968, now Nigerian and still working. Photo: Bent Mikkelsen |
The last ones
The tankers mentioned above followed a number of other units like the Oragreen, Baltic Swan, Lady Camilla, and also two inland bunker barges from Amsterdam towed to Nigeria by the Danish tug Luna A.
The last single-hull tankers in Danish waters are likely to be the two former Swedish units Haahr Bridge and Haahr Trumf. They continue to work to the end of this year – twelve months longer than the others. They have got an extension to their working life, due to a special assessment from the classification society. They passed through a very special survey a couple of years ago. Both units are in excellent condition, despite the year of building: 1964 for the Haahr Trumf and 1967 for the Haahr Bridge. Both ships were built in Karlstad.
Another remaining single hull unit is the Faeroese flagged tanker Tora, built in 1977 in Nykøbing Mors. Since December 2006 the Tora has been lying in Sønderborg while the owner is trying to obtain a dispensation from the single hull ban to continue operations.
//Bent Mikkelsen
Latest update 16-04-2007 17:53
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No 18/2008
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2007