NOTA APP (IMO 9249271) detained at Constanta, October 2026
The 23-year-old Panama-flagged bulker NOTA APP was detained at Constanta, Romania, on 5 October 2026, barely two and a half months after her ship manager and ISM manager changed to Valship Shipping SA of Athens. This is the vessel's third detention in a PSC record spanning 74 inspections over more than two decades, and it comes amid a period of elevated deficiency counts, a reinstated classification, and a management chain that has turned over repeatedly since 2016.
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NOTA APP was detained at Constanta, Romania, on 5 October 2026. The THETIS record does not specify the number of deficiencies, the recognised organisation, or the ISM company at the time of filing. The vessel's AIS position shows her moored in the Black Sea with a draught of 6.3 metres. No deficiency codes have been published for this detention at the time of reporting.
The vessel
NOTA APP is a geared Supramax bulk carrier of 53,098 dwt and 29,295 GT, built in 2003 by Oshima Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. at Saikai, Japan. She measures 188.5 metres LOA by 32.26 metres beam. The vessel is powered by a MAN B&W 6S50MC-C two-stroke diesel and is fitted with four 30-tonne cranes. She flies the Panama flag, which she has held since July 2016 after a period under Liberian registry. Classification is currently with Registro Italiano Navale (RINA), an IACS member society, with a status listed as "Reinstated" since 5 August 2025. Prior to RINA's reinstatement, the vessel's class with Nippon Kaiji Kyokai (ClassNK) was withdrawn on 26 September 2021, and before that, Bureau Veritas class was withdrawn on 14 November 2012. At 23 years old, she sits firmly in the ageing tail of the global Supramax fleet.
Inspection history
The vessel's PSC record is extensive: 74 inspections across seven MoU regimes dating back to April 2003, with 119 deficiencies recorded and two detentions prior to the current event. For the first 13 years of her life, the record was remarkably clean. From her delivery through mid-2016, the vessel accumulated dozens of inspections with almost no deficiencies and zero detentions, reflecting the quality management of her D'Amico-era operators. The picture changed after July 2016, when ownership and management shifted to Kouros Maritime Enterprises and the vessel was renamed Nota A under the Panama flag. A detention at Tianjin on 7 July 2016 with 10 deficiencies marked the first black mark on her record. Deficiency counts in subsequent inspections climbed; Tianjin in August 2019 produced another 10-deficiency inspection, though without a detention. The second detention came at Novorossiysk on 4 August 2023, under Black Sea MoU jurisdiction, with 11 deficiencies. This was shortly after the vessel changed hands again: Federar Shipping Ltd took registered ownership on 25 July 2023 and Just Bulk DMCC of Dubai assumed ISM and ship management on the same date. The timing is notable: the detention came just ten days after the management transition. Since the 2023 detention, deficiency counts have fluctuated. An expanded inspection at Taman, Russia, on 1 January 2024 recorded eight deficiencies. A more detailed inspection at Çanakkale, Turkey, in March 2026 also produced eight. Conversely, several inspections at Ukrainian and Indonesian ports returned zero deficiencies. The most recent inspection on record, at Quang Ninh, Vietnam, on 2 July 2026, found two deficiencies in radio communications and water/weathertight conditions. Water/weathertight deficiencies appear as a recurring category across several inspections in the vessel's record. The vessel has been inspected heavily in the Black Sea MoU (eight inspections), Mediterranean MoU (seven), and Tokyo MoU (27), reflecting her trading patterns in the Black Sea, South-East Asia, and Eastern Mediterranean.
Ownership and management
The vessel's ownership and management history is a story of serial turnover. She was delivered in 2003 to St Vincent Shipping Inc with Victoria Ship Management of the Philippines as ship and ISM manager. D'Amico Società di Navigazione took over in late 2006 when D'Amico Dry DAC became registered owner, followed by a split management arrangement with Ishima Pte Ltd handling ISM from October 2010. In July 2016, Enjoy Holdings SA became registered owner and Kouros Maritime Enterprises assumed both ship management and ISM roles. The vessel was renamed from Medi Nagasaki to Nota A at that time. A further change came in July 2023: Federar Shipping Ltd took registered ownership, and Just Bulk DMCC of Dubai became ship and ISM manager. The vessel was renamed NOTA APP. The most recent transition took place on 21 July 2026, just over two months before the current detention. Valship Shipping SA, a small Athens-based operator with a fleet of three vessels, took over as ship manager, commercial manager, and ISM manager from Just Bulk DMCC. Federar Shipping Ltd remains the registered owner, with its registered address care of Valship's Glyfada office. Valship's contact details on file include a Gmail email address, which is unusual for an ISM manager. In total, the vessel has had at least six different management entities and four registered owners since delivery. The last three management changes occurred in 2016, 2023, and 2026.
Risk profile
VesselScore rates NOTA APP at 41.5 out of 100, placing her in the "Elevated attention" calibration band with a modelled detention probability of 7.03%. Three components score at maximum penalty. The deficiency rate component (c1) is maxed at 15 out of 15 points, reflecting the lifetime rate of 1.6 deficiencies per inspection. The severity mix component (c3) also hits its ceiling at 10 out of 10, indicating that deficiencies have tended toward more serious categories. The age baseline (c6) is maxed at 10 out of 10, consistent with a 23-year-old vessel. The flag and class component (c5) scores 8 out of 10. Panama is not on the Paris MoU white list, and the classification history, with two withdrawn class societies and a reinstated status at RINA, contributes to this score. The fuel efficiency component (c7) scores 7.5 out of 10, placing her in the lower quartile relative to 3,726 bulk carrier peers in the 2024 MRV dataset. AIS behaviour (c9) records no dark-shipping gaps but three loitering events, contributing 3 out of 5 points. The sanctions screen (c10) is clear, and no marine casualties are on record (c11). The detention history component (c2) scores only 2.5 out of 20, reflecting the three-year gap since the Novorossiysk detention. Hull condition (c8) shows zero degradation. Manager churn (c4) scores 2.5 out of 15, though this was sourced from the July 2023 transition date and does not yet reflect the July 2026 change to Valship.
What to watch
The immediate question is when the vessel will be released from Constanta and how many deficiencies the full THETIS report will record. Given that this is the vessel's third detention, and second in the Paris/Black Sea MoU area within three years, the vessel's target factor for future inspections will increase, making more detailed and expanded inspections more frequent. Charterers and underwriters should note the following. First, Valship Shipping SA assumed ISM and ship management just 76 days before this detention, and the company manages only three vessels. Second, the classification status with RINA is listed as "Reinstated" since August 2025, following ClassNK's withdrawal in September 2021; the circumstances of the gap and reinstatement bear investigation. Third, the certificate data on file was last observed in January 2023 and showed multiple statutory certificates expiring in March 2023; whether these have been renewed is not confirmed in the available data. Fourth, the manager churn component of VesselScore has not yet been updated to reflect the 2026 management change, meaning the vessel's risk score is, if anything, understated. Any party considering a fixture should request current class survey status, the full Constanta detention report, and confirmation that all statutory certificates are in date.
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