Brokers are reporting that SKS Tankers has sold its oil-bulk-ore (OBO) carrier SKS Tyne (109,900 dwt, built 1996) for US$7m to Karadeniz for conversion into a floating power plant.

SKS Tankers, part of Norway's Kristian Gerhard Jebsen group, sold the OBO's sistership SKS Tana (109,900 dwt, built 1996) to Karadeniz in late March for the same price, also for conversion into a powership. Both OBOs were built at Hyundai Heavy Industries, South Korea.

The two conversions speed the pace with which combination carriers are moving towards obsolescence. Once the ships are converted, the global OBO fleet will stand at 18 vessels, with an average age of 22 years, according to data from VesselsValue.com.

The global fleet of oil-ore (O-O) carriers currently stands at a singular 2011-built vessel, plus two product-oil-bulk-ore (PROBOs) carriers, aged three and 12 years old respectively.

Karadeniz's specialised subsidiary Karpowership currently has nine floating power stations on the water, four of which are deployed in Iraq, two in Lebanon and one each in Pakistan, Ghana and Indonesia.

Earlier this year, the Turkish group purchased two 15-year-old capesize bulk carriers for conversion into powerships.