Turkish-owned and seems to be on regular service Novorossiysk-Istanbul-Alexandria.

Mmm A 1978 ship described as obsolete. At first I was somewhat "outraged" !!!
But doing some sums...my first ship was 23 years old...
This is 38 years old...yet still looks quite modern.....One of those anomolies.
Must say though...she still looks good in this photo.

I agree, though this ship still is in a very good condition as you can see. I'm living in the Philippines and it is unbelievable how many of those obsolete ships are still around, even when in a bad condition. But only sailing within Philippine waters, not to abroad.

These ships are obsolete, even in the so-called third world. Very few pre-1990s multi-purpose tweendeckers such as this remain in service.

Yeah but only in the 'third world' where these old ships are still useful: Asia, Africa, the Near East and South America. No longer in (Western) Europe, Canada and the USA.

There appears to be many old/older ships still active on the high seas. I wonder why that is?