site.btaMaritime Administration Moves to Auction Off Stranded Ship

At 11 a.m. local time on September 28, 2022, at the building of its directorate in Varna (on the Black Sea), Bulgaria's Maritime Administration Executive Agency (MAEA) will hold an open-outcry public auction for the motor ship VERA SU which was stranded about a year ago, the Transport and Communications Ministry said in a press release on Thursday.
 
The starting bid, set on the basis of an expert valuation by a licensed independent valuer, is USD 460,000 before VAT. Bidders are required to pay a deposit amounting to 10% of the starting bid. Applications for entry in the auction must be submitted at the MAEA Varna Directorare by 5:30 p.m. local time on September 27, 2022.

Full information on the conditions of the procedure and the specifications of the vessel subject to the auction can be found in Bulgaria at https://www.marad.bg/bg/node/3109.

The 33-year-old Panama-flagged general cargo ship VERA SU, carrying 3,000 tonnes of urea, veered off course and ran aground off the Yailata Locality at the Northern Bulgarian Black Sea coast on September 20, 2021. The vessel breached her hull on the rocks and partially sank. The salvage operation took 36 days and was completed on October 26. Bulgaria claimed USD 1.16 million from the insurers for costs incurred during the effort. According to media reports, the shipowner has abandoned the vessel which was not being covered by the insurance company. The Bulgarian authorities reportedly seek to raise approximately USD 1.7 million from the auction.