Used Car Carrier?

A rather beat up looking car carrier arrived this morning. Although it certainly looks used, the cars it is carrying are presumably new (unless Rent A Wreck has started to import its cars.)

The normally pristine Maersk blue is much faded and worn, and there is a probable explanation.

Built originally in 1998 as Maersk Teal, the ship was sold by AP Moller (Maersk) to Hoegh Autoliners - normally a competitor, but it was one of those unfathomable deals involving ships. It was renamed Hoegh Masan, and although Hoegh Autoliners were the owners, Moller were still involved in the management. It retained the Maersk colours (except the funnel, which was repainted for Hoegh.)

Then in March of this year the ship appears to have been sold again, this time to CSAV of Santiago, Chile, and renamed CSAV Rio Salado- the name it carries now.

There was probably another charter back agreement, wherein the new owners, CSAV, have chartered the ship to the previous owners for a period of time. This is not unusual for old ships, but there may be a bit of a glut of auto carriers these days, and so this ship is considered to be old. It certainly does not appear to have been maintained particularly intensely!

So it is a used ship, but carrying new cars.
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