A Sinokor-linked MR tanker has been detained in a UK port after failing a port state control inspection.
The 50,300-dwt Midnight Glory (built 2020) was stopped at Milford Haven on 29 May, according to the Paris MoU.
The Welsh port handles around 20% of Britain’s seaborne trade in oil and gas and has been dubbed “the energy capital of the UK”.
PSC inspectors uncovered nine deficiencies, four of which were deemed sufficient to hold the Marshall Islands-flagged vessel.
According to the Paris MoU report into the detention, one of the deficiencies related to a “missing lifeboat”, while launching arrangements for survival craft were not up to standard. In addition, the ISM system was found to be “not as required”.
The vessel is owned by the Bank of Communications Financial Leasing, but operated by Sinokor under a bareboat charter, according to VesselsValue.
VesselsValue says the Midnight Glory is on a one-year charter to Weco Tankers at $32,000 per day and the Danish shipowner does feature the vessel in a fleet list on its home page.
But at the time of the detention, the V Ships-managed vessel was on charter to ExxonMobil, the Paris MoU said.
Last month, TradeWinds reported that two Sinokor-linked VLCCs were detained in Europe in little over a month after failing PSC inspections.
They were the Marshall Islands-flagged 316,400-dwt Gulf Loyalty (built 2011) and 314,000-dwt North Loyalty (built 2012), according to the Paris MoU.
The Gulf Loyalty was detained at the port of Fawley in southern England on 1 April after inspectors uncovered 15 deficiencies, of which seven were deemed sufficient to hold the ship.
Crude tanker detentions in the UK are rare: only nine ships have been detained over the past two years up until this latest detention, according to the Paris MOU.
The North Loyalty was stopped in Mongstad, south-west Norway in early March and held for 10 days.
Inspectors found 12 deficiencies, four of which warranted the detention, including issues with the ISM system, fire doors, watertight doors and corrosion on some deck areas.
The tanker, which was on charter to Equinor at the time, was released on 15 March and allowed to proceed to an agreed repair yard.
