Shipping Corp of India Sells Crude Oil Veteran

Shipping Corporation of India has started the new calendar year with “out with the old and in with the new” motto.

Namely, the company sold its 1999-built crude oil carrier M.T. AK Azad, the company said in a regulatory filing.

As disclosed, the ship was sold for further trading on “as is where is” basis.

The Indian-flagged tanker features 92,687 in dwt and 51,793 in gross tonnage.

The move is part of the company’s fleet modernization drive as the Shipping Corporation of India cut the age of its fleet by almost a half, as disclosed in March 2017. The fleet rejuvenation was ordered by India’s standing parliamentary committee on transport in 2016 after the shipowner finally returned to the black having struggled with financial loses for quite some time.

The fleet overhaul continued last year as well, as the company disposed of 1994-built oil tanker M.T. B.C. Chatterjee and two containerships, the 1994-built Rajiv Gandhi and 1993-built Indira Gandhi.

On the other hand, two ships were added to the fleet, the 2001-built LPG tanker Nanda Devi and offshore supply ship SCI Saraswati.

Based on the company’s website data from December 1st 2017, the company’s fleet was comprised of 69 ships totaling in over 60 million dwt.