LIDER EXPRESS (IMO 8818312) detained at Constanta, September 2026
The 34-year-old Cameroon-flagged passenger/ro-ro ferry LIDER EXPRESS has been detained at Constanta, Romania, marking her third detention in under three years under the same Turkish manager. With 141 deficiencies across just 14 inspections since mid-2023 and a VesselScore of 44.1 out of 100, the vessel sits firmly in the 'very high risk' bracket, and this latest detention will do nothing to change that picture.
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LIDER EXPRESS was detained at Constanta, Romania on 29 September 2026. The detention was recorded via THETIS current detentions data. No deficiency count or specific deficiency codes have been published at the time of writing, nor has the recognised organisation or ISM company been listed on the THETIS record. Constanta is familiar ground for this vessel: Romanian authorities inspected her at Constanta and the adjacent port of Agigea in September 2024, finding 12 deficiencies on each occasion spanning fire safety, ISM non-conformities, structural corrosion, and crew welfare shortcomings. That she has now been detained in the same port two years later underlines an inability to resolve systemic issues.
The vessel
LIDER EXPRESS is a passenger/ro-ro ship built in 1992 at Bergen Group Fosen in Rissa, Norway. At 18,685 GT and 6,934 DWT, she measures 157.9 metres LOA with a beam of 24.3 metres. She has a capacity of 313 TEU and is powered by a four-stroke diesel engine (model 6ZA40S). The vessel flies the flag of Cameroon, a registry she moved to in November 2022 after a brief stint under Panama, having spent two decades under the Chinese flag. No classification society is recorded in the current data, a notable gap for any vessel, let alone a passenger ship of this age. She is currently moored in the Black Sea trading area with a reported draught of 4.3 metres.
Inspection history
The inspection record for LIDER EXPRESS is, bluntly, alarming. Across 14 PSC inspections recorded between August 2023 and April 2026, port state authorities logged 141 deficiencies, an average of 10.1 per inspection. Two of those inspections resulted in detention before the current event: one at Novorossiysk in October 2023 and another at Tuapse in November 2024, both under Russian Black Sea MoU authority. The deficiency profile is not one of occasional lapses. Fire detection and alarm systems have been flagged repeatedly, appearing in inspections at Novorossiysk (August 2023), Agigea/Constanta (September 2024), and Tuapse (April 2026). ISM non-conformities were cited at Agigea in September 2024 and again at Tuapse in April 2026. Navigation records, passage planning, and rescue boat deficiencies recur across multiple inspections. Structural issues, specifically deck corrosion, were noted by Romanian authorities in September 2024. The vessel has been inspected across three MoU regimes: eight inspections under the Black Sea MoU, four under the Mediterranean MoU, and two under the Paris MoU. She has drawn expanded inspections, the most rigorous type, in the majority of cases, which is consistent with her risk profile. Even the lower-count inspections are not clean: a February 2024 expanded inspection at Laurium, Greece under Paris MoU found three deficiencies, and a May 2024 check at Alexandria recorded four. A December 2025 inspection at Samsun, Turkey produced 20 deficiencies in a single survey, the highest single-inspection count in the record. Deficiency counts have not trended downward; if anything, the most recent inspections in 2025 and 2026 show sustained double-digit findings. The timeline indicates persistent, systemic shortcomings that management has failed to remedy.
Ownership and management
The vessel is registered to Black Rose Shipping Ltd, which took ownership in July 2024. Before that, the registered owner from November 2022 was Blue Rose Shipping Ltd. Both entities share a care-of address with the vessel's ISM and commercial manager, Samsun Shipping Ltd, a Turkish operator based in Samsun with a fleet of 13 vessels. Samsun Shipping has managed the vessel since November 2022, the same month LIDER EXPRESS switched from the Chinese flag to Cameroon via Panama, and was renamed from Bo Hai Ming Zhu. Prior to the 2022 transition, the vessel spent two decades under the ownership and management of Bohai Ferry Group Co Ltd, a well-known Chinese ferry operator. The handover to Turkish interests in late 2022 marked a complete change of ownership, management, flag, and name. The ownership shuffle from Blue Rose to Black Rose in mid-2024, while Samsun Shipping remained manager, has the hallmarks of a corporate restructuring within a related group rather than a genuine change of control. Both the current and prior detention occurred under Samsun Shipping's management tenure.
Risk profile
LIDER EXPRESS carries a VesselScore of 44.1 out of 100, placing her in the 'very high risk' calibration band with an estimated detention probability of 10.86%. Three components scored at their maximum penalty: deficiency rate (15 of 15 points), severity mix (10 of 10), and age baseline (10 of 10). The detention history component scored 15 of a possible 20, reflecting the two prior detentions already on record. The flag and class component contributed 4 of 10 penalty points, consistent with the Cameroon registry's standing. Fuel efficiency versus peers added a modest 1.9 points out of 10. The one component that did not penalise the vessel is manager churn, which scored zero. This is because Samsun Shipping has been in place since late 2022 without change, though in this case, management stability has clearly not translated into operational improvement. No sanctions exposure or casualty history was identified. No classification society is recorded, which itself is a red flag for underwriters and charterers evaluating the vessel's technical oversight.
What to watch
The immediate question is how long the vessel remains detained at Constanta and what deficiency list Romanian authorities ultimately publish. Given the breadth and consistency of past findings, particularly around fire safety, ISM compliance, and structural condition, release may require significant remedial work. This is the vessel's third detention in under three years; under the Paris MoU's banning mechanism, a further detention could trigger an access refusal order within the region. Charterers should note the absence of any recorded classification society, the vessel's advanced age of 34 years, and the Cameroon flag's limited oversight capacity. Any party considering this vessel for passenger or vehicle transport should demand current class and statutory certificates before proceeding.
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