PEARL-T (IMO 9264166) detained at Rotterdam, September 2026
The 23-year-old chemical/oil products tanker PEARL-T has been detained in Rotterdam on 25 September 2026, marking the vessel's first known detention in over two decades of service and 35 prior port state control inspections without a single hold. The detention is a striking departure from a historically clean record, and it comes just weeks after a deficiency-free inspection in Cameroon.
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PEARL-T was detained at Rotterdam on 25 September 2026 by Netherlands port state control authorities. The vessel, a Malta-flagged chemical/oil products tanker, had arrived in Rotterdam and was moored at the time of the action. Neither the number of deficiencies nor the specific deficiency codes have been disclosed in the current THETIS listing, and the recognised organisation and ISM company fields are not populated in the detention notice. Rotterdam is a Paris MoU port and among the most rigorous inspection regimes globally, which adds weight to the finding.
The vessel
PEARL-T is a small chemical/oil products tanker built in 2003 at Torlak Shipyard in Istanbul, Turkey. At 2,919 GT and 4,635 DWT, with a length overall of 99.76 metres and a beam of 15 metres, she sits firmly in the handy-size bracket typical of short-sea and regional parcel trades. She is powered by a four-stroke diesel engine (model 8M25). The vessel flies the Maltese flag and is classed with Bureau Veritas, an IACS member. Notably, Bureau Veritas lists the vessel's class status as "Reinstated" since 25 October 2025, which implies a prior suspension or withdrawal of class. At 23 years old, she is approaching the upper end of commercial viability for her type, and age is a significant contributor to her risk score.
Inspection history
The record is unusually extensive and, until now, remarkably clean. PEARL-T has undergone 35 port state control inspections across four MoU regimes since December 2003: 20 under Paris MoU, eight under Black Sea MoU, five under Mediterranean MoU, and two under Abuja MoU. Not a single one of those inspections resulted in detention. The total deficiency count across all 35 inspections stands at 66, giving a per-inspection deficiency rate of 1.9, which is modest for a vessel of this age and trade profile. The deficiency record shows peaks in the vessel's early years: seven deficiencies each at Bordeaux in February 2007 and Bayonne in November 2004, and a seven-deficiency inspection at Bakar, Croatia, in January 2016. The expanded inspection at Koper in December 2014 logged five deficiencies, and Midia in July 2014 yielded six. Since City Trade & Investment SA assumed management in January 2021, the vessel has been inspected 11 times. Of those, nine recorded zero deficiencies, with only two inspections (Constanta in April 2024 and Monopoli in October 2023) finding three deficiencies each. The most recent inspection, at Douala on 26 August 2026, just one month before the Rotterdam detention, was deficiency-free. This trajectory makes the Rotterdam detention conspicuous. Whatever triggered the Dutch inspectors' action was not telegraphed by recent PSC performance. It is worth noting, however, that the vessel's trading pattern shifted in 2026, with the Douala call suggesting increased West African trade under Abuja MoU, a region with different inspection standards than the Paris MoU ports where this detention occurred.
Ownership and management
PEARL-T is registered to Tuvia Enterprises SA, with its address care of City Trade & Investment SA at rue de la Croix-d'Or 19A, Geneva, Switzerland. City Trade has served as both ship manager/commercial manager and ISM manager since 19 January 2021, operating a fleet of just three vessels. The vessel's management history shows three distinct eras. She was originally owned and managed by Gorkem Denizcilik from her 2003 delivery. Birlesik Denizcilik took over ISM and commercial management between late 2006 and early 2007. Transal Denizcilik Ticaret AS, a Turkish operator, then assumed ISM management from June 2014. City Trade took over in January 2021, coinciding with a flag change and renaming. The name and flag history tells its own story. Built as Belfin, the vessel became Pearl-T in June 2014 under Maltese flag when Transal took over. She was briefly renamed Spear and reflagged to Belize in mid-to-late 2020 before reverting to PEARL-T under Malta in January 2021 when City Trade assumed management. That brief Belize interlude, lasting roughly five months, is the kind of flag-hopping that draws scrutiny. A small Geneva-based manager with a three-vessel fleet, combined with a single-ship registered owner at the same address, is a structure that charterers and underwriters should note for transparency and counterparty risk purposes.
Risk profile
VesselScore rates PEARL-T at 81.8 out of 100, placing her in the "below average risk" calibration band with an estimated detention probability of 2.41%. This score was calculated before the Rotterdam detention and will almost certainly deteriorate at the next scoring cycle. The score benefited from zero penalty points on deficiency rate, detention history, severity mix, and manager churn. The primary risk drivers were age (9.2 points deducted out of 10, reflecting the vessel's 23 years) and flag/class profile (6.0 points out of 10). The flag/class penalty is consistent with the Bureau Veritas class reinstatement noted in the record; a class status that has been suspended and then reinstated signals a period during which the vessel may not have been fully surveyed or compliant. AIS behaviour contributed 3.0 penalty points out of 5, driven by three loitering events and no AIS gaps. The loitering flag is not unusual for a short-sea tanker awaiting berth or lightering, but in combination with the West African trade pattern, it warrants attention. Sanctions screening returned clear, and no marine casualty records were found.
What to watch
The immediate question is what deficiencies underpinned this detention and how quickly PEARL-T can rectify them. Rotterdam authorities are thorough, and release may hinge on rectification of structural, equipment, or ISM-related shortcomings. Once the deficiency codes are published, the market will know whether this was a documentation issue or something more fundamental. Charterers should scrutinise the Bureau Veritas class reinstatement from October 2025. A class suspension followed by reinstatement on a 23-year-old chemical tanker is a material due diligence finding, and it should prompt requests for the full class survey status and any outstanding conditions or recommendations. The fact that the vessel's certificate records in the public domain have not been updated since mid-2017 is a separate concern; it does not mean certificates are absent, but it does mean third-party verification is stale. The next PSC inspection following release, particularly if it occurs within Paris MoU, will carry elevated targeting priority given the detention. Monitor for any flag state action by Malta and for whether Bureau Veritas issues any further class notations.
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