"Latin America: Donations and Sales of Second-hand Hulls"
Wilder Alejandro Sanchez
The Southern Tide
Center for International Maritime Security
3 June, 2026
Published: https://cimsec.org/latin-america-donations-and-sales-of-second-hand-hulls/
Written by Wilder Alejandro Sanchez, The Southern Tide addresses
maritime security issues throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. It
discusses the challenges regional navies face including limited defense
budgets, inter-state tensions, and transnational crimes. It also
examines how these challenges influence current and future defense
strategies, platform acquisitions, and relations with global powers.
Analyses
of the status and strength of the US Navy, the Chinese Navy, and other
global navies focus not only on the size of their respective fleets but
also on the modernity of their hulls and their new capabilities,
particularly vis-à-vis integrating new technologies. But what happens to
decommissioned platforms that global naval powerhouses no longer
operate? Some are kept in reserve or sent to scrapyards. However, many
decommissioned vessels find a second life when sold or donated to
partners and allies.
