Decommissioned Indian air-craft carrier INS Viraat remained unsold at its auction on Tuesday. The ship weighing 24000mt is likely to have around 100,000mt of scrap metal which can be salvaged.
The bids on the ship were lesser than the price India’s Ministry of Defence expected, said a top official. Another e-auction is likely to be held soon. The pre-bid earnest money deposit for the auction was Rs5.30cr ($744,933.16).
Lower realisation from scrap sales and high earnest deposit for the auction led to the unsuccessful auction, according to leading ship-breaking companies. As per auction pre-condition, a minimum of 10pc of the metal from the ship is to be used for domestic projects.
($1=Rs71.14)