St Helena (the ship) sold

St Helena alongside at Portland in 2024

Credit pauldimages.co.uk (Marinetraffic)

In September 2024 rumors were coming out in maritime news that m/v St Helena would be for sale, like e.g. this Horizon ship brokers ad tells it all, as well as this Tradewinds article. It seems the Extreme E concept didn't pan out after 3 years of operation or maybe they are investing in a newbuild or ditching her for the new Extreme H concept they've launched as per their website, who knows... 

Now registered under Djibouti flag

Credit: Marinetraffic

I've followed her in media and she truly has traveled the world in various exotic locations like Saudi Arabia, Greenland, Brazil, Spain, Italy, Uruguay and South Africa. That's a lot of miles under her keel, quite impressive. Selling her though maybe was no easy feat as she still is, after all make up, a 30+yr old wheezing and clanking cargo ship and definitely not electric yet, far from it. But, by the looks of it, Extreme E has removed m/v St Helena as a feature from their website as the floating paddock so it pretty much is evident that the sale has taken place and she's been quietly moved away from their scene.

Her latest voyage update on AIS although her position is pretty far from Salalah

Credit: Marinetraffic

Furthermore, they have another 5 year survey coming up that is a big one to pass. Still it might not be too bad if Management and crew have kept abreast with maintenance but the survey will cost, according to Equasis it is due in Feb 2026.

St Helena in 2021

Credit: Agustin Alapont (Marinetraffic)

Quickly thinking anyone who would be willing to take her over for a new lease of life would have to throw some serious money at her and would look at re-engineering her and possibly installing a bowthruster and new cargo handling equipment, propulsion could even be diesel electric with azipods. 

Accommodation would surely need gutting and putting in new too, just imagine all the new cabins, public areas and galley with the related electric installations, sensors, piping and ducting. This could be easily done though e.g. with modular solutions. 

Out on deck they could do with new lifesaving equipment, davits and mooring winches. In the engine room I think most of the auxiliary systems could be modernized and upgraded/ replaced along the re-engineering, e,g, hydraulic plants, watermakers, a/c and boiler plants.  

The crane and hatches could also behoove with new machinery. Come to think of it with the imagination running wild and bottomless pockets, I would extend her for another hatch (~20-30m) to get more cargo space. When I was onboard the only thing now not overhauled, but actually renewed, was the bridge. 

Looking at the list, one then could just think, "why bother with old tonnage when I could just build new?"

St Helena in 2021

Credit: Michael R Thorn (Marinetraffic)

Having seen her in media attending the opening of Sindalah Island in KSA last Oct 2024 I understand she was sitting in Jeddah afterwards and, I'm guessing here, most likely being pimped hard for prospective buyers in the area (e.g. as a yacht support vessel). In the end the brokers must've managed to flog her as she now according to AIS has been re-registered with Djibouti as flag state.

St Helena in 2022

Credit: Howard Harrison (Marinetraffic)

I had a look on Equasis and they document following:

Company/ Role/ Date/ Source

Reported sold undisclosed interest/ Ship manager & Commercial manager/ 13/01/2025 / IHS Maritime

Unknown / ISM Manager / 13/01/2025 / IHS Maritime

Reported sold undisclosed interest / Registered owner / 13/01/2025 / IHS Maritime

I'm assuming that she has been bought out by one of the many security companies operating in the Middle East as her position as per AIS recordings is in the Red Sea as well as her current registry.

St Helena in Birkenhead in 2019

I also see her latest port state controls carried out in Cagliari, Italy return two inspections with deficiencies as follows from July 2022 during 5 days of digging:

- Cargo operations including equipment - Cargo securing manual - Not approved

- Certificate & Documentation - Crew Certificates Certificates for masters and officers - Expired

- Fire safety Doors within main - Malfunctioning

- ISM ISM, related deficiencies - Not as required

Looks like more a matter of admin than technical issues found. Then again the PSC of Cagliari has her in June 2023 on following deficiencies:

- Certificate & Documentation - Crew Certificates Seafarers' employment agreement (SEA)

- Fire safety - Fixed fire extinguishing installation

This was her last inspection in the Paris MOU as she has not ventured back into the Mediterranean from the Red Sea since then. The deficiencies appear as minor issues, she was not detained either. In between and before she was also inspected in Portugal and Chile but came out clean those times. Riyadh MOU does not yet have a searchable database.

St Helena at Weymouth Bay anchorage in 2024

Credit Andy Amor (Marinetraffic)

M/v St Helena is nowadays already included in the annals of history, Aberdeen Archives, Gallery & Museums have her listed as probably the last vessel to have been hand drawn in UK. The yard, Hall Russell, investigated CAD in 1982 and 1987, but costs at the time were too high so she was hand drawn all the way and then built by A.P. Appledore.

St Helena at Jamestown Bay in 2017

Credit Bernard Pronost (Marinetraffic)

For those that do not know, she started as the lifeline to the St Helena island as a Royal mail ship (RMS) carrying cargo and essentials as well as passengers. At first the traffic was from UK but in her later years it was only from Cape Town. Ports of calls included also Ascension and Tristan da Cunha islands. She was replaced by the new airport that opened on the island in 2016, then later sold and renamed MNG Tahiti to serve as a floating armory in the Middle East. Her last voyage as RMS was documented by Matthew Engel in this article but he was wrong that she'd end up on the beach in 2017.

On 14 June 2016 the RMS St Helena sailed from the Port of Tilbury, London and the UK as the RMS for the last time to St Helena and Ascension (Voyage 243), and on to Cape Town. It was to be the last Atlantic Royal Mail Run that the RMS would undertake. Credit St Helena focus (X).

The RMS leaving UK for the last time

Credit St Helena focus (X)

St Helena off Jamestown at anchor

Credit: Mantis St Helena Hotel (FB)

The last RMS crew

Credit: Chris Pickard (LinkedIn)

This was seemingly not a profitable move so she was quickly sold on in 2017 on to the Extreme E team who then subsequently refurbished her in Birkenhead at Cammell Lairds and fast forward in early 2021 started "trading" with her as a floating paddock for their E-series at different venues world wide. 

St Helena profile general arrangement drawing

Credit: Greem Gomez in Ship general arrangement plans and drawings (FB)

General Arrangement 'B' Forecastle, 'A', Promenade, and Boat Decks’

Credit: Aberdeen museums

In end 2024/ start 2025 she looks to have gone full circle and ended back in the Middle East as a floating armory, or something along those lines, perhaps for the rest of her useful life, time will tell. 

St Helena illustration

Credit: Buddy Bacon in Ship general arrangement plans and drawings (FB)

I presume the next time we see her in the headlines is when she's on her way to the shipbreakers beach in Bangladesh or involved in some kind of calamity. Best news would be if she'd be put up for a major refit to serve another 30 years, until then fair winds and water under the keel for her...