STEP FORWARD (IMO 9119153) detained at Tanjung Priok, October 2026
The 31-year-old Panama-flagged general cargo ship STEP FORWARD was detained at Tanjung Priok, Indonesia on 6 October 2026 under the management of Dalian Chun An Ship Management. This is only the vessel's second detention in a PSC record spanning 88 inspections over 26 years, but it comes after a period of rising deficiency counts and follows a previous detention at an Indonesian port in 2020.
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STEP FORWARD was detained at Tanjung Priok, Indonesia on 6 October 2026. The detention was recorded via THETIS. The vessel's recognised organisation is Korean Register (KR) and the ISM company is listed as Dalian Chun An Ship Management Co Ltd. Neither the number nor the specific codes of the deficiencies leading to detention have been disclosed at the time of reporting. Notably, the vessel's only prior detention also occurred at an Indonesian port: Teluk Bayur, in April 2020, when six deficiencies were recorded.
The vessel
STEP FORWARD is a 7,873 GT, 11,728 DWT general cargo ship built in 1995 by Shin Kochi Jyuko in Kochi, Japan. She measures 114.5 metres LOA with a beam of 19.6 metres, is powered by a two-stroke MAN B&W 6L35MC diesel, and is fitted with derrick cranes (two at 25 tonnes, one at 25 tonnes). She carries a nominal 40 TEU capacity. The vessel flies the Panama flag, which she has held since May 2015 after previously being registered in Singapore from April 2007. She was classed with Nippon Kaiji Kyokai until May 2015, when class was withdrawn and transferred to Korean Register, which remains the current classification society. The vessel traded under the name Tai Shan from May 2015 until being renamed STEP FORWARD in March 2020.
Inspection history
The vessel's PSC record is unusually long, with 88 inspections logged since September 2000, the vast majority under the Tokyo MoU (84 inspections) with four under the Indian Ocean MoU. Prior to the current detention, STEP FORWARD had been detained only once: at Teluk Bayur, Indonesia on 21 April 2020, with six deficiencies. That detention occurred shortly after the ownership change to Step Forward Shipping Ltd and before the current manager, Dalian Chun An, took over. The early part of the record, from 2000 through 2012, is clean: no deficiencies and no detentions across roughly 30 inspections. The picture changed markedly from 2013 onward. A July 2013 inspection at Tokuyama, Japan recorded 26 deficiencies, followed by a follow-up at Osaka in October 2013 with 12 deficiencies and a Yokohama inspection in May 2014 with 15. These were the vessel's worst results by far and coincide with her period under Fair Shipmanagement Co Ltd and Nippon Kaiji Kyokai class. After the 2015 flag, class, and management change to V-Sky Shipping, deficiency counts moderated but did not disappear. Inspections routinely returned two to five deficiencies per call, with occasional clean results. Under Dalian Chun An's management from March 2021, the pattern has continued: deficiency counts have ranged from zero to five, with clean inspections at Dar es Salaam (December 2025, July 2026) and Sandakan (April 2026) interspersed with findings at Zhangjiagang (five deficiencies, February 2025) and Fuzhou (four deficiencies, September 2024). The most recent three inspections before the current detention were all deficiency-free. The overall deficiency rate across the full record stands at 1.7 per inspection, though this is skewed downward by the many clean early-era inspections.
Ownership and management
The vessel is registered to Step Forward Shipping Ltd (Hong Kong), which took ownership in February 2020. The registered owner's correspondence address is care of the ship manager. Ship management, commercial management, and ISM management are all held by Dalian Chun An Ship Management Co, a Dalian, China-based operator with a fleet of 20 vessels. Dalian Chun An has held these roles since 5 March 2021. The management chain has seen considerable churn over the vessel's life. From 2001, the vessel was under Toda Kisen KK (ISM). Fair Shipmanagement Co Ltd took over commercial management in April 2007 and ISM duties in July 2009. V-Sky Shipping Ltd (Hong Kong) assumed both roles in May 2015, coinciding with the flag switch to Panama and the class transfer to Korean Register. Dalian V-Sky Ship Management then took over ISM in September 2019, before Dalian Chun An assumed all management responsibilities in March 2021. That makes four distinct management regimes in the past decade. The VesselScore system records zero points for manager churn, indicating stability in the most recent scoring window, but the longer historical record shows a more turbulent picture.
Risk profile
VesselScore rates STEP FORWARD at 74.3 out of 100, placing her in the 'below average risk' calibration band with a modelled detention probability of 2.73%. The main risk driver is age: as a 1995-built vessel, she receives the maximum 10 points (out of 10) on the age baseline component. The severity mix component adds 6.7 points out of 10, and the deficiency rate contributes 4 out of 15. The flag and class combination (Panama flag, Korean Register) adds a modest 2 points. AIS behaviour analysis flagged three loitering events but no AIS gaps, contributing 3 out of 5 points. The vessel shows no sanctions exposure and no casualty history. Critically, the detention component scored zero, as the previous 2020 detention had aged out of the scoring window. With the current detention now on record, that component will reset, and the score will deteriorate at next recalculation. One certificate detail stands out: the Document of Compliance was last seen as issued by China Classification Society (IACS) in March 2022, while all other statutory certificates continue to be issued by Korean Register. This is not unusual for a Chinese-managed vessel where the DoC issuer may follow the ISM company's flag state arrangements, but it is a split worth noting.
What to watch
The immediate concern is the release timeline and the nature of deficiencies; the specific deficiency codes have not yet been published. Given the vessel's age, Indonesian authorities may require rectification before departure. Any charterer should request the full detention report and verify the scope of deficiencies. The vessel's next inspection in any Tokyo MoU port will be classified as a follow-up, elevating the targeting priority. The VesselScore will worsen once the detention is incorporated. The 2020 detention was also in Indonesia, which may elevate the vessel's risk profile within Indonesian maritime authority systems specifically. Charterers and underwriters should also note the vessel is now 31 years old, approaching the age threshold where some cargo interests and vetting departments impose enhanced scrutiny or outright restrictions.
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