Dubai-based operator Saud Shipping has called time on the career of one of the oldest MR product tankers in active service.
After 37 years of gainful employment transporting refined petroleum products across the world’s sea lanes, the 40,000-dwt Athina 3 (built 1988) dropped anchor this week off its final port of call — the ship recycling beach at Alang in India.
The vessel, originally built as Torm Herdis by Hyundai Heavy Industries, arrived after a final voyage from Suez.
Set to join the Athina 3 in the Alang anchorage on Thursday is a former fleet mate, the 96,000-dwt crude tanker Athina I (built 1995).
According to S&P Global data, Saud sold both ships at the end of 2024 to Messina Chartering, a cash-buyer-linked shipowning entity.
Messina has resold the Athina 3 to Alang-based Rai Metal Works for $4.7m, or $478 per ldt.
TradeWinds was unable to ascertain if any deal with a ship recycler has been lined up for the Athina I.
Both ships, acquired secondhand in 2013, have been used to support the oil trading activities of Dubai-based parent company Zad Fuel Co.
Sources familiar with the vessels’ trading patterns said they were used to carry oil cargoes to Zad’s customers in the Middle East and East Africa.
The withdrawal of the two tankers leaves Saud Shipping with one ship, the 74,000-dwt product tanker Athina II (built 1998).
Dubai tanker sources said that many smaller Middle Eastern fuel traders such as Zad have traditionally owned and operated several older tankers to support their regional operations but are gradually phasing them out in favour of chartered tonnage.
The cost of replacing these mostly elderly tankers and the complexities of operating vessels in an increasingly stringent regulatory environment were cited as the primary reasons for the scaling back of this regional fleet.
