Scrapping process begins on former EasyCruise vessel in Dubai

EasyCruiseOne, the ship that launched the failed EasyCruise brand back in 2005, has finally been consigned to the scrap heap in Dubai, with dismantling of the ship now underway.

The former EasyCruiseOne has been a firm fixture among the shipyards at Dubai Maritime City near Port Rashid and the Dubai Cruise Terminal for more than ten years, waiting for a superyacht conversion project that never came.

While her sister ship Renaissance was sold and converted into the megayacht Dubawi, EasyCruiseOne has faced a more uncertain fate for a decade.

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According to Trade Winds, the ship is now being cut down for scrap on the dry berth its been sat on since 2008. Another long-abandoned partly converted mega-yacht sitting next to her has reportedly already been dismantled as well.

That ship was the former 3,400-gross ton Greek cruise ship Maria Kosmas, built in 1981 as an Australian navy hydrographic survey vessel, and converted into a cruise vessel by the Greek cruise operator Vergina in 1993.

Although many commercial vessels have previously been sold for scrap in Dubai, a major global shipping hub, these are believed to be the first cruise ships ever actively scrapped in a Dubai shipyard.

Dubai has previously dabbled in cruise refit and refurbishment work with the conversion of the former Cunard Line flagship QE2 into a floating hotel, the partial refit of the cruise ship AIDAstella, and the recent exterior refurb of the Carnival Cruise Line ship Carnival Spirit, but has not attempted to become a hub for ship scrapping.

In fact, the UAE government last year introduced new laws tightening the regulations around shipbreaking in an attempt to bring local law in-line with international standards regarding environmental and health and safety protections.

Turkey and India remain the two major hubs for ship scrapping. While India’s infamous Alang Beach is where most merchant vessels go to die, Turkey has become the preferred final destination for cruise ships due to its more robust rules and regulations.

During the mass cruise ship cull of 2020 and 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, dozens of vessels were sold to third parties and sailed to Turkey, where the months-long process of gutting their interiors and breaking them apart began.