A Barge's Final Journey to Chattogram

It stands as tall as an 18-story building. Its area spans the size of two football fields, and it weighs approximately 25,000 tons. This massive vessel has now reached the Barabkunda coast along the Bay of Bengal. Built in Singapore in 2012, the ship’s final destination is a private shipyard in Bangladesh. While the average lifespan of an ocean-going vessel is 20 to 30 years, this one has a lifespan of only eight years.

Why? The answer lies in the rapid technological innovation of the modern world. This barge was built for highly specialized tasks. However, more efficient and cost-effective barges have since been developed. Due to its outdated technology, the maintenance costs became unsustainable for the owners, leading to the decision to sell it as scrap.

The Bangladeshi purchasing company declined to disclose the exact price of such a massive vessel. However, estimates suggest that with the current selling price per LDT (Light Displacement Tonnage) at approximately $480–$490, the scrap value for 25,000 LDT would be around $12.25 million USD (approximately Tk145–150 crore). Beyond the scrap metal, there are various sellable components, including generators. Consequently, the purchasing firm, SN Corporation, could potentially generate Tk200 crore from this vessel.

This colossal barge, named "Fels Can Do II," used to submerge deep into the ocean to extract thousands of tons of metal structures. It would break down iron frameworks, gather the pieces, and resurface—effectively clearing "iron junk" from the sea. It once roamed freely across the waters from South to North America. Now that its time has come to an end, it must face its own fate as scrap.

The barge was brought from Singapore to the SN Shipyard in Chattogram on April 19 for dismantling. Since the barge is no longer self-propelled, it was towed from Singapore by specialized tugboats. Captain Anam Chowdhury, President of the Bangladesh Merchant Marine Officers' Association, navigated the barge from the Bay of Bengal to the Sitakunda coast. An expert in maneuvering ships into scrap yards, Captain Chowdhury said, "We don’t usually encounter barges of this type. It is 'abnormal' and essentially a 'dead' barge, meaning it cannot move on its own. Special measures were required to tow the 221-meter-long and 79-meter-wide vessel to the Sitakunda shore."

Describing the arduous and patient process of bringing the ship to the coast, he added, "It usually takes an hour to tow a scrap ship from the outer anchorage to the shipyard. For this barge, it took more than three hours. Furthermore, we had to be extremely cautious, using four tugboats with a combined capacity of 28,000 horsepower."

The massive barge was purchased by SN Corporation, one of the country's leading ship-breaking firms and a top-tier "Green Shipyard." The founder of SN Corporation, Shawkat Ali Chowdhury, currently serves as the Chairman of Eastern Bank Limited.

According to Barkat Ullah, Executive Officer of the purchasing firm, this barge contains highly desirable items not found in typical scrap ships. Most notable are the steel plates, ranging from 25 mm to 108 mm in thickness. Domestic heavy industries usually import such plates at high costs, but they will now be able to source them locally from this vessel. Additionally, the barge is equipped with several powerful generators.

The vessel contains 25,000 Light Displacement Tonnage (LDT) of scrap, with an estimated waste margin of only 5%. Since the ship is relatively young, the iron remains in excellent condition—a significant advantage for the recyclers. It is estimated that 6 to 9 months will be required to completely dismantle the barge and convert it into scrap iron.

One of the world’s largest offshore recycling vessels, the "Fels Can Do II" is no ordinary barge; it is a semi-submersible. Its most remarkable feature is its "diving" capability, allowing it to submerge up to 33 meters underwater. Once submerged, it could lift massive sunken iron structures or decommissioned drilling rigs from the ocean floor onto its deck before resurfacing. To perform this feat, the barge is equipped with 12 high-capacity ballast pumps for water displacement. Measuring 220.8 meters in length and 79 meters in width, this barge functions like a floating factory with its own power generation capacity of approximately 10 Megawatts.

The most striking feature of the barge is the four massive towers located at its corners. Each tower stands about 60 meters tall, equivalent to an 18-story building. Given that a standard football pitch is typically 100–110 meters long and 64–75 meters wide, this barge is actually larger than two football fields placed side-by-side. These towers allowed the vessel to maintain stability amidst turbulent waves while lifting massive structures from 33 meters below the surface. Its gargantuan deck space and powerful cranes made it an unrivaled force in mid-ocean operations.

Its final mission involved relocating a massive offshore oil and gas drilling platform off the coast of Brazil.

As part of an asset restructuring plan, Singapore-based Keppel Offshore & Marine decided to put the vessel up for auction in 2024, where it was subsequently purchased by SN Corporation.