Product tanker makes maritime history as the largest fishing vessel broken up for scrap

When Norwegian shipowner Anders Jahre took delivery of the product tanker newbuilding Freeport Chief in 1980, little did anyone at the company know that it would set a world record at the end of its long career, as the largest fish factory vessel ever recycled.

In 2008, after a career hauling refined products around the world for a variety of owners, the tanker was converted into a giant 36,500-dwt fish factory vessel capable of staying at sea for six months while it processed up to 547 tonnes of fish daily.

Its task under South Korean, Chinese and most recently Russian ownership was to station itself in the world’s fishing grounds and process the vast quantities of fish caught by a fleet of accompanying trawlers.

Environmentalists, concerned about the detrimental effect such large-scale fishing would have on fragile marine ecosystems, branded it the Death Star, a reference to the giant Star Wars spaceship capable of destroying entire planets.

The end came for the ship, then named Vladivostok 2000, in 2024 when Russian owner Pacific Marine Trawlers sold it to Indian ship recycling firm Priya Blue Industries for $12.15m.

Renamed Divo for its delivery voyage, it was beached at Alang in November 2024. The final demolition work was completed on 8 January this year.

Priya Blue said in a press release to TradeWinds: “The dismantling of highly specialised fish factory vessels is among the most technically demanding segments of global ship recycling, requiring heavylift capability, controlled cutting, hazardous material management and rigorous safety and environmental compliance.”

Priya Blue was subsequently awarded a Guinness World Records achievement for recycling the largest fish factory vessel ever built.This is the second such award the recycler has received.

In 2010, Priya Blue earned a Guinness World Record for demolishing the largest vessel ever sold for recycling.

This was the 564,800-dwt Mont (built 1976), a giant storage tanker better known in its crude-carrying days as the Seawise Giant and Jahre Viking.

Source : Trade Winds