Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel North Sea Producer returned to the River Tees, after an 18 year absence, in 2015. Previously Dagmar Maersk it was completed in 1984 as a product carrier. It came to this point on the Tees in 1996 to be converted into an FPSO. Becoming a prominent sight to those attending football matches at Middlesbrough’s Riverside ground, even appearing on the coverage of a match. UP THE BORO

In 2015 however the future was uncertain, the ship owned by a partnership between Maersk and Odebrecht was redundant when her work was done in the McCulloch oilfield.

The ship was sold outright and left the Tees in 2016 to see more about what happened to this ship you can visit the following webpages;
https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/north-sea-producer-gone-riverside-12033913
https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/works-scrap-north-sea-producer-12087477
https://shipbreakingplatform.org/spotlight-north-sea-producer-case/

By no means do I support or not support any assertions made on these sites, but I do believe that when a proven company such as Able UK were a stones throw from the Tees, who have dismantled a number of ships and oil platforms and associated materials it would have been the obvious and safest choice, especially if the end game for the North Sea Producer was recycling. It would have also enriched local employment.

Considering there is independent evidence that child labour is used in the shipbreaking yard in Bangladesh, I don’t feel profit should ever be put before lives.