Hanjin Vienna sailing to scrapyard

Container ship leaves waterfront en route to Asia

After a six-month stay, the Hanjin Vienna has left B.C. to sail to Asia, where it will be scrapped.

The container ship had rounded the southern tip of Vancouver Island by Friday afternoon, travelling at 12 knots in the Juan de Fuca Strait.

“It has been sold. It has got a new name and it is leaving,” Peter Lahay, International Transport Workers’ Federation Canadian co-ordinator, said Friday.

Rev. Peter Smythe of the Mission to Seafarers said from his Vancouver office that the ship is heading for the scrapyard. There are just “too many ships” available right now, he said.

The website Marine Traffic said the 17-year old Vienna is travelling under its own power on its way to Singapore. It is scheduled to arrive April 4.

B.C. has played host to the Hanjin Vienna and the Hanjin Scarlet since September. They were among container ships in oceans around the globe stranded when the huge Hanjin Shipping Co. of South Korean collapsed financially under billions of dollars in debt.

Once the world’s seventhlargest marine shipping company, it was officially declared bankrupt by a South Korean court last month.

The hearts of many Islanders, and mariners on the mainland as well, went out to the crew members stuck far from home. Christmas celebrations were staged to cheer up the Filipino and Korean crew members, who were rotated in and out.

Hanjin Shipping had leased the 278-metre-long Vienna from its German owner. The owner used another company, also from Germany, to manage the ship.

While in B.C., the Vienna, built in 2000, spent virtually all its time at Constance Bank, off Victoria’s waterfront, where it was easily visible from Dallas Road.

The three-year-old Hanjin Scarlet, now in the waters off North Vancouver, is for sale as well, Smythe said.

Its crew left for their homes in the Philippines and South Korea in January and a crew from India is now manning the vessel, Lahay said. It has been owned by the Hanjin company and is now being managed by Wallem Ship Management.

Lahay also said many container ships are for sale.

The Hanjin Vienna is a “little bit older,” he said. “They become quite inefficient in terms of where the market has gone.”

Larger container ships are being built these days.

India, Bangladesh and China are among main countries where scrapping takes place, Lahay said.