PDVSA subsidiary Albanave’s 113,000-dwt tanker Arita (built 2015) has been arrested in Singapore.
Court records indicate the Panamanian-flagged tanker was seized last week at the request of the law firm Gurbani & Co.
The arrest comes several weeks after the vessel's technical manager Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM)said it would hand back all tankers it managed for PDVSA as it had become "almost impossible" to work with vessel assets belonging to Venezuelan government.
The arrest marks yet another chapter in the strange saga of the Arita’s short existence.
The ship was one of three aframaxes that PDVSA ordered at Iran Marine Industries Co, also known as Sadra, in 2006.
Originally named Sorocaima, the ship was only completed in 2013, at which time PDVSA refused to take delivery citing excessive delays.
Laid up off Bushehr for several years, the tanker was eventually sold in November 2017 to Asialink Synergy, a Malaysian-registered company, which put it into service under the management of Hong Kong’s Fareast Shipmanagement.
Less than a year later the ship turned up as the Arita under Albanave ownership and BSM management.
In February this year investigative website Bellingcat claimed that, based on recent satellite photos, it appeared that Sadra was in the process of assembling the blocks of the second aframax in its drydock
