More ships are Scraped as COVID Further Delays Return to Cruising.

 

Published: January 21, 2021 - 12:01 AM

The sad news continues to come in. On January 9, 2021 the Marco Polo arrived off of Alang, India. The following day, on January 10, the Grand Celebration, under the name Grand, also arrived in Alang. Both ships were beached on January 13. This news was followed by the sale of the Magellan which was supposed to be used as an accommodation ship in the Middle East but was later sold for scrap by their current owners Seajets. The Magellan, along with a number of other ships were supposed to be used as accommodation ships for workers and visitors but were found too expensive to operate, therefore they were sold for scrap. The Magellan (under the name Mages)is expected to arrive off of Alang on January 22, 2021. Sadly the Magellan is the last remaining ship of Carnival Cruises' Holiday class vessels.

It is also expected that further ships will be sold for scrap as the demand for older ships in the near future will be limited. Seajets which purchased a number of ships including three ex-Holland America Statendam class ships and P&Os Oceana, has unknown intentions for the ships. It is unclear whether Seajets plan to operate the ships, charter them or sell them once the market for secondhand vessels improve or scrap values rise.

In addition to the ships mentioned above it appears that the Carnival Fascination now named the Century Harmony may also be in jeopardy as the ship is sitting idle off of the southern tip of India and was expected to sail to the Far East. Her location on the ship tracking systems has not been updated in over a week so it is possible that she may be sitting off the coast of India to see what her scrap value is and the ship could potentially be diverted to India. In addition, Royal Caribbeans ex- Empress of the Seas now named Empress and is sitting off the coast of Oman. Her intended location was India to be used for further cruising under the revitalization of the Jalesh Cruises banner. It is unclear why the empress is sitting off the coast of Oman but this is very similar to the stop the Marco Polo made before heading to India for scrap. Only time will tell the fate of these 2 ships.

As you read this article, the ex Costa Victoria (under the name St. Victoria) is under tow from Italy behind an ocean going tug enroute to Alaiga, Turkey to be scrapped.

For those keeping score here are the ships and their former names.

• Marco Polo - Previously sailed for the Baltic Shipping Company as the Alexander Pushkin, Orient Lines as the Marco Polo and Cruise and Maritime Voyages as the Marco Polo.
• Grand Celebration - Previously sailed for Carnival Cruises' as the Celebration, Costa Cruises - Costa Celebration, Ibero Cruises Grand Celebration and finally Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line.
• Magellan - Previously sailed for Carnival Cruises' as the Holiday, Ibero Cruises Grand Holiday, Cruise and Maritime Voyages as the Magellan, Seajets who flipped the ship to breakers under the name Mages.
• Carnival Fascination - Built for Carnival Cruises and sold to Far East buyers - Renamed Century Harmony -- to be used as an accommodation ship in Asia.
• Empress - Previously Royal Caribbean's Nordic Empress, Empress of the Seas, Pullantur's Empress, Royal Caribbean's Empress of the Seas, Empress sold to Indian Buyers for further trading.

Finally - Carnival Corp has announced they expect to dispose of 4 more ships in the upcoming months. The exact identity of those ships has not yet been announced.  

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