Car Carriers SIRIUS HIGHWAY and CORAL HIGHWAY for scrap!

[SteKrueBe]

hi there!

i was just informed, that: SIRIUS HIGHWAY, Call Sign : 3ELV3, Gross tonnage : 44576, Year of build : 1984, left Emden today for her last voyage to singapore. after that she will be scrapped.
CORAL HIGHWAY, Call Sign : 3FEB5,Gross tonnage : 49439, Year of build : 1987, will follow her soon.

brgds, stefan

[brimar]

Hi,
      'Sirius Highway' departed Emden late this afternoon Saturday 28th Feb.
 Anyone know if she is carrying a North Sea Pilot as if she is and is landing Pilot at Brixham would like to get photo.
                                         Cheers,
                                         Brian.

[Kelvin Davies]

She made good time then! At the moment (21:20) she is south of the Isle of Wight. It looks as if a visit to Lyme Bay will be in the dark if she does go there.
Kelvin

[Glenn Towler]

These shps are just floating boxes, Coral Highway has made a few visits to Hobart in the early 90's.  I would imagine that with them just being a shell that would have a short life span and would be prone to regular structal problems dished out by Mother Nature.

[lzgq]

I think that these vessels will be broken up because of the crisis and the lack of cargo. Yes they're quite old but what about the elder Highways - Australian, African, Oriental?
Glenn I was on board of Shenandoah Highway for five months and despite her 17 years I can assure you that she was in top condition. Japanese are mad about maintenance  :-)

[Morten]

Car carriers truly are floating shoe boxes, but actually, their boxshape with no large hatches or openings mean that they don't experience the high strains you'll see on a mega containership or a badly loaded bulker! Also, remember that though they carry a large number of cars, cars aren't that heavy compared to other denser cargoes.
The biggest problem for car carriers is their appaling stability! To maximize yield, cars are stowed close together and very high up in the ship. So you get a ship which tends to roll easily and the roll angle can easily become very high (30-40 degrees) which becomes a problem for the cargo. Therefore cars have to be lashed extremely well.
A good example of just how bad things are for car carriers, check out the Cougar Ace incident in the Pacific! That basically drifted around for ages leaning 30 degrees to one side before they were able to salvage it!

[Phil English]

The market for car carriers is pretty dire at the moment. No-one wants a new car!
However, age isn't the only criteria for deciding which car carriers are scrapped. There are still older ships than these, but those other ships may still be chartered out and earning their keep. Once a charter ends and the ship finds itself with no business, that's when a decision to scrap might come into play. Then there are other factors, such as operating costs to consider,

Phil

[SteKrueBe]

hi there!
it's true, there is definetely no market for car carriers during this present crisis. furthermore lay up and maintenance is burning money without hope of earning new money in the nearer future with these ships.
and sad but true, "sirius highway" and "coral highway" for instance are said to be in a better state then "australian highway" or "oriental highway", but the latter have just the right dimensions and meters of loading space for their present trade.
however, i heard, that there are talks about converting the "coral highway" into a floating parking deck or parking lot.
brgds,
stefan

[SteKrueBe]

More Car Carriers for scrap!
- Baltic Leader built 1982 for Bangladesh
- St. Elmo built 1981 for India
brgds,
Stefan

[Jos]

Seems like AUSTRALIAN HIGHWAY has made her last call at Santander today (May, 15). Right now she is bound for Setubal then back to Emden and finally to China to be scrapped. May be some one can confirm.

[Jos]

AUSTRALIAN HIGHWAY now off Texel (Emden for Setubal, ETA 27 May). Some one can confirm if this is her last voyage as a feeder in European waters.