POLARIS MILA (IMO 9289908) detained at Ulsan, October 2026
The 20-year-old pure car and truck carrier was detained by Korean port state control at Ulsan on 7 October 2026, only nine months after a wholesale change of ownership, commercial management, and ISM management. The vessel had passed 48 of its previous 49 PSC inspections without detention, with the sole prior detention recorded in Brisbane more than eight years ago, making this an unusual event for a ship with an otherwise clean record but one that coincides with significant management turnover.
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POLARIS MILA was detained at Ulsan, South Korea, on 7 October 2026. The vessel is flagged in Liberia, classed by the American Bureau of Shipping, and managed under ISM by OSM Ship Management Pte Ltd of Singapore. The number and nature of deficiencies triggering the detention have not yet been published. The ship was moored at the time of the report.
The vessel
POLARIS MILA is a pure car and truck carrier (PCTC) built in 2006 at Xiamen Shipbuilding Industry in China. At 47,168 GT and 12,600 DWT, with a length overall of 182.8 metres and a beam of 31.5 metres, she is a typical mid-size car carrier of her era. She is powered by a MAN B&W 9S50MC-C two-stroke diesel driving a fixed-pitch propeller, with a design speed of 20 knots. The vessel is single-hulled and fitted with a bow thruster. She has sailed under the name POLARIS MILA since January 2026; before that she was LAKE TAUPO from 2017, and was delivered as MORNING MIRACLE. She has been Liberian-flagged since October 2013, having previously flown the UK flag. ABS has classed the vessel since February 2014, taking over from DNV.
Inspection history
The vessel's PSC record is extensive: 49 inspections across seven MoU regimes spanning nearly 20 years, from January 2006 to November 2025. Of those, only one resulted in detention, at Brisbane in June 2018 under the Indian Ocean MoU. That detention involved just two deficiencies. In the broader record, total deficiencies number 34 across all inspections, yielding a deficiency rate of 0.7 per inspection, well below the threshold that typically draws heightened attention from port state authorities. The most recent inspection on file took place at Kocaeli, Turkey, in November 2025 under the Mediterranean MoU. That was a more detailed inspection and produced five deficiencies spanning fire safety, hull corrosion, navigation lights, structural conditions, and an EEXI-related documentation shortfall. The hull corrosion finding is notable on a 20-year-old vessel. Before that, the record was strikingly clean: zero deficiencies at Dartmouth (June 2024), Veracruz (February 2024), Antwerp (April 2023), and several earlier ports. The only other inspection with a significant deficiency count was at Chornomorsk, Ukraine, in April 2021, where nine deficiencies were recorded across fire safety, lifesaving appliances, ISPS access control, and engine room cleanliness, though no detention resulted. The Tokyo MoU dominates the inspection record with 24 surveys, followed by the Indian Ocean MoU (7) and Paris MoU (7). The USCG has examined the vessel four times, all without deficiencies.
Ownership and management
This vessel has changed hands and managers repeatedly. It was delivered in 2006 to Lombard Corporate December 3 as registered owner, with Zodiac Maritime Ltd acting as both ship manager and ISM manager. Eastern Pacific Shipping UK took over both roles in late September 2013, coinciding with the class change from DNV to ABS and the reflagging to Liberia. Registered ownership passed to Bequint Marine Ltd in June 2018, then to Xiang T62 HK International in June 2023. The most recent and most significant upheaval came on 9 January 2026, when three roles changed simultaneously: Polaris Mila Ltd became the registered owner, Polaris Autoliners Ltd of London assumed ship and commercial management, and OSM Ship Management Pte Ltd of Singapore took on ISM management. Polaris Autoliners currently operates a fleet of just four vessels. The vessel was renamed POLARIS MILA at the same time. Before Polaris Autoliners took over, Volkswagen Konzernlogistik held the commercial management role from December 2024. That arrangement lasted less than three weeks before the January 2026 handover. The rapidity of that transition is unusual. The Ulsan detention is the first PSC event under the Polaris Autoliners and OSM management arrangement, occurring approximately nine months into their tenure.
Risk profile
VesselScore rates POLARIS MILA at 42.9 out of 100, placing her in the "Elevated attention" calibration band with a modelled detention probability of 6.3%. The single largest risk driver is the severity mix component (c3), which scored the maximum 10 out of 10 points, indicating that when deficiencies have been found, they have tended to fall in categories that port state inspectors treat seriously, such as fire safety, structural conditions, and lifesaving appliances. The deficiency rate component (c1) contributed 13.9 out of a possible 15 points. While the raw deficiency rate of 0.7 per inspection is low in absolute terms, the scoring model weights recent inspections more heavily, and the five-deficiency result at Kocaeli in November 2025 is the most recent data point. The detention history component (c2) scored 10 out of 20, reflecting the single prior detention at Brisbane in 2018. Manager churn (c4) added 5 out of 15 points, capturing the January 2026 handover. Age contributed 8 out of 10 points; at 20 years old, the vessel sits in the upper range for a car carrier still in active service. Flag and class scoring (c5) added 4 out of 10. The vessel shows no sanctions exposure and no AIS anomalies. A casualty record exists from September 2006, when the ship, then named MORNING MIRACLE, was involved in a marine casualty in a canal; this added 2 points. Hull condition contributed 1.9 out of 5 points, with a degradation percentage of 11.3%, consistent with the hull corrosion deficiency found at Kocaeli.
What to watch
The immediate question is the nature and number of deficiencies behind this detention, which have not yet been published. Given that the November 2025 Kocaeli inspection flagged hull corrosion and fire safety issues, charterers and underwriters should monitor whether the Ulsan detention involves the same categories, which would indicate unresolved or recurring defects. Several statutory certificates, including cargo ship safety construction, cargo ship safety equipment, IOPP, load lines, ballast water management, cargo ship safety radio, and international air pollution prevention, all expire on 16 January 2026 based on the last observed records. These certificates would have required renewal around the time of the management change. Confirmation that renewals have been completed should be verified. This is only the second detention in 20 years and the first under the current management team. A second detention within 36 months of the Brisbane event would have triggered a ban in Paris MoU ports; at over eight years apart, no such consequence applies here. The vessel's next inspection result will be an important signal for whether the Ulsan detention is an isolated event or an early indicator under the new management regime.
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