The series of container ships named after American presidents such as Kennedy and Truman is being scrapped on the much-discussed Alang beach in India. The first ship arrived at Alang on Monday, writes Alphaliner.
The container carrier APL, currently ranked as the world’s eighth largest container carrier and a subsidiary of the Singapore-based Neptune Orient Lines, has sold the ship President Adams for scrapping at the controversial Alang beach in India. The ship arrived at the beach on June 23rd. Three further ships in the same series, which for many years sailed under American flag with military equipment to the Middle East, will be scrapped in July, writes Alphaliner.
Currently, the EU Commission and members of the EU Parliament are discussing new and more responsible scrapping demands for EU-flagged ships.
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The APL ship President Adams belongs to a series of five container ships built for APL in 1988, three of them at Howaldstwerke-Deutsche Werft and two of them at Bremer Vulkan. At the time, the ships were the biggest panamax container ships that had ever been built.
Photo: IMO
The three remaining ships to be scrapped in July are President Jackson, President Polk, and President Truman which so far have sailed in APL’s service between the Far East and the American East coast.
The fifth ship in the series President Kennedy, which was transferred from the American to Singaporean flag in 2003, will continue to sail in APL’s network.
According to Alphaliner, APL wants to continue with five American-flagged container ships of 5,000 – 5,500 teu each in the G6 alliance.
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