Lawyers acting on behalf of Dina Ocean Shipping and Morning Swan Shipping arrested the 30,800-dwt open hatch bulk carrier Alkar Trust (built 1997) late last Friday evening.
The IHS Ships Register lists Dina Ocean Shipping as being an affiliate of China's Zhangjiagang Oceanicwit Shipping. The database further indicates Dina Ocean as being the registered owner of the ship since April of this year when the vessel's name was changed to Kira Ocean.
However, other shipping databases including VesselsValue still list the ship as Alkar Trust and owned by Ocean Trust Marshall Ltd,a single-ship entity, and operated by Negmar Denizcilik of Turkey.
The ship is current broadcasting its name as Alkar Trust on its automatic identification system (AIS) and all court records in Singapore refer to it as such.
While TradeWinds has yet to access the full court records detailing the nature and circumstances of the case, the convoluted situation would suggest a sales and purchase deal that went horribly wrong.
The Alkar Trust incurred the wrath of Indonesian authorities in May this year when it was caught by an Indonesian navy patrol carrying out what they claimed was an illegal transhipment of cargo within Indonesian territorial waters.
First Admiral R Eko Suyatno said at the time that the ship was caught offloading a cargo of Myanmese white rice into the 9,200-dwt general cargo ship Kar Trust (built 2000), an activity that was contrary to its voyage plan and port clearance, and that they had entered Indonesian territorial waters without the appointment of a foreign ship agency.
Furthermore, the ships were accused of carrying out transhipment activities outside of port limits, which is in contravention of Indonesian regulations.
Both ships were detained for a considerable period of time while investigations were carried out. TradeWinds understands that they were only recently released.
Dina Ocean and Negmar have been approached for comment.
