"Yosor", formerly "Gracia del Mar"

Yesterday, the livestock vessel "Yosor", flagged in Panama, made a stop at the port of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Since its conversion and re-launch at sea in October 2011 until November 2012, it sailed under the name "Gracia del Mar" and is the same ship that once belonged to the Contenemar fleet dedicated to container traffic.

Captain Manuel Figueroa García photographed it while it was anchored in the waters of the Gran Canaria port, where it arrived from Cartagena to refuel and continued its journey southwest towards Cartagena de Indias yesterday afternoon.

In March 2012, non-governmental organizations promoting animal welfare, such as the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) and the World Animal Protection (CIWF), submitted complaints to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) regarding a journey of this vessel between Brazil and Egypt, where mechanical problems caused the asphyxiation and death of numerous animals. The importing country did not accept the shipment and prohibited the vessel "Gracia del Mar" from docking and unloading the transported livestock.

The conversion work into a livestock carrier began in February 2011 at the Torlak factory in Tuzla (Turkey). It corresponds to project LSC02, commissioned by Bay Route Shipping, which was the company then owning the vessel. The deck and cargo holds were replaced with eight decks for the transport of 6,400 heads of livestock (lambs, sheep, and camels) over an area of 8,718 square meters, with corresponding drinking troughs and feed distributors.

The vessel is classified by the Russian registry (KM) and in its new condition has a gross tonnage of 12,999 tons, a net tonnage of 6,944 tons, and a deadweight of 6,011 tons. It measures 122.77 m in overall length - 108 m in length between perpendiculars - 19.40 m in beam, and 8.14 m in draft. IMO Code 7819113.

It has a silo with a capacity of 2,186 cubic meters and a tank for 319 cubic meters of fresh water, thanks to a desalination plant with a capacity of 360 cubic meters per day. It is powered by a 4,416 horsepower engine on a shaft and has a speed of 14.5 knots. The total crew number is 42, of which 28 are officers and sailors, and the rest are “cowboys” who handle the livestock.

The mentioned vessel operates in its specialty traffic in South America, the Middle East, Australia, and Africa. It is not the only case of Spanish merchant ships that have had a new life as floating stables. We recall, among others, two tankers from REPESA, sold to Kuwait: “Al Qurain”, formerly “Santiago” and “Al Yasarh”, formerly “Alcántara”, as well as the vessels “Benirredra”, from Iscomar and “Eslava”, from Luis de Otero, which have also been transformed for this purpose.

The vessel "Gracia del Mar", upon its arrival in Santa Cruz de La Palma

It belonged to a series of four vessels owned by the Contenemar group

Construction number 399 from the Enrique Lorenzo y Cía. shipyard in Vigo, it entered service in 1981. It had a capacity for 533 TEUs and was a ro-ro, meaning a mix of roll-on/roll-off and container ship, with a ramp at the stern, of which three other vessels were built: “Gala del Mar”, “Julia del Mar”, and “Gloria del Mar”.

On December 23, 1994, while sailing at position 30º 31’N and 016º 19’W, on a journey from Puerto del Rosario to Vigo, a fire broke out that severely affected the superstructure. Two days later, it arrived towed to Las Palmas and in March 1995 was towed again to Cartagena, where it underwent reconstruction, giving it a new superstructure that, from then on, differentiated it from the rest of its companions. In January 1996, it returned to service.

In January 2009, the vessel “Gracia del Mar” was moored in the port of Vigo, trapped by multiple seizures and other issues due to Contenemar's defaults. The tide also extended to the rest of the fleet, causing its progressive immobilization and a new episode of labor disputes over defaults and promises that vanished into thin air.

In May 2010, the Galician press published the news that Syrian shipowner Mohamad Kheir Kaddoura had acquired the vessel “Gracia del Mar” at the auction held on the 27th of that month at the Port Authority of Vigo. The shipowner paid 501,000 euros for the ship – the starting value was set at 269,000 euros – thus settling the debts accumulated with the public body due to various defaults.

The mentioned shipowner had acquired two months earlier by the same procedure the vessel “Julia del Mar”, for 461,000 euros. It was also converted into a livestock vessel and currently sails under the name “Abou Karim III” with the company Khalifek Shipping Line. The other two vessels in the series, “Gala del Mar” and “Gloria del Mar”, were sold for scrap and dismantled in June 2010 in Aliaga (Turkey).

Contenemar, co-founded in the late sixties by the Menorcan naval engineer Andrés Seguí Mercadal, was for years a leading shipping company in container cargo transport. For a long time, it was immersed in various financial problems, but managed to stay afloat, even witnessing the sinking of some of its competitors that apparently enjoyed better economic health. In the end, the inevitable happened, and Contenemar began a one-way journey, causing serious harm to crew members and shore staff, as well as to suppliers and customers, many of whom became embroiled in a legal battle for their rights in the competent courts.

Photos: Manuel Figueroa García and Francisco Noguerol Cajén