SVR VENUS (IMO 9130212) detained at Burgas, October 2026
The 29-year-old general cargo ship SVR VENUS has been detained at Burgas, Bulgaria, marking what the available record indicates is the vessel's first-ever detention across 57 prior port state control inspections stretching back to 1997. The detention comes barely 11 weeks after a wholesale change of ownership, management, flag, and name, and six months after a Turkish inspection logged 10 deficiencies including ISM and emergency system failures.
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SVR VENUS was detained at the port of Burgas, Bulgaria on 5 October 2026. The vessel is flagged to Antigua and Barbuda. No deficiency count, recognised organisation, or ISM company details were provided in the detention notice. The ship was moored in the Black Sea at the time the report was generated, with a draught of 3.9 metres.
The vessel
SVR VENUS is a 2,844 GT general cargo ship built in 1997 at Damen Shipyard Galati in Romania. She measures 89.73 metres LOA with a beam of 13.17 metres, carries 4,211 DWT, and has a TEU capacity of 221. The hull is double hull/double bottom with a single hold, single hatch, and one bow thruster. She is fitted with a controllable pitch propeller and has an air draft of 28 metres. The vessel is currently classed by the Polish Register of Shipping, which took over classification on 17 March 2025 after the Indian Register of Shipping withdrew. Prior to that, DNV (and its predecessor DNV-GL/GL) had classed the ship from September 2012 until November 2018. At 29 years old, she is well past the age at which PSC authorities routinely apply heightened targeting criteria.
Inspection history
The PSC record for this vessel is unusually long: 57 inspections across the Paris, Mediterranean, and Black Sea MoUs dating back to November 1997. Prior to the current detention at Burgas, the vessel had never been detained. That is a remarkable run. The overall deficiency rate across all inspections stands at 2.1 per inspection, which for a vessel of this age is moderate rather than alarming. The record, however, shows a clear deterioration in recent years. In April 2021, an inspection at Poti, Georgia under the Black Sea MoU recorded 14 deficiencies, the highest single count in the vessel's history, though no detention followed. In April 2026, a more detailed inspection at Tekirdag, Turkey under the Mediterranean MoU produced 10 deficiencies spanning ballast water management, crew training, the IOPP certificate, the emergency generator, ISM-related issues, MARPOL Annex I and V pollution prevention, and navigation equipment including the magnetic compass and passage plan. The breadth of categories in that Tekirdag inspection is notable: it touched safety, environmental compliance, and management system deficiencies simultaneously. That inspection took place while the vessel was still flagged to Sierra Leone and before the July 2026 ownership change. During the Epsilon Denizcilik era (late 2018 to mid-2026), the vessel underwent roughly 17 inspections. Early inspections under that management were generally clean, but the 14-deficiency inspection at Poti in 2021 and the 10-deficiency inspection at Tekirdag in 2026 stand out as sharp spikes. Earlier, under EMS Shipmanagement and Bockstiegel Reederei, the vessel sailed predominantly in Paris MoU waters with mostly low deficiency counts and frequent clean inspections.
Ownership and management
The vessel has undergone a complete change of identity in 2026. On 22 July 2026, the registered owner became Planet Ship Management Inc, with ship management, commercial management, and ISM management all assigned to Planet Gemi Isletmeciligi AS, a Turkish company based in Izmit, Kocaeli. The vessel was simultaneously renamed SVR VENUS (previously C. Epsilon) and reflagged to Antigua and Barbuda. This followed a brief period under the Sierra Leone flag from March 2026, itself a change from Barbados, which had been the flag since November 2018. The Sierra Leone registration lasted only four months. Prior to Planet, the vessel was managed by Epsilon Denizcilik Ticaret Ltd of Turkey, which held ISM and ship management roles from November 2018, with C Epsilon Shipping Corp as registered owner. Before that, EMS Shipmanagement GmbH & Co managed the ship from September 2007, and Bockstiegel Reederei GmbH & Co held the ISM Manager role from March 2001. The ownership chain shows four distinct management eras. The transition from Epsilon Denizcilik to Planet Gemi in July 2026 coincided with the flag change, name change, and a class change that had already taken place in March 2025. The vessel has now had three flags in under 12 months: Barbados, Sierra Leone, and Antigua and Barbuda.
Risk profile
VesselScore assigns SVR VENUS a score of 53 out of 100, placing the vessel in the "above average risk" band with a modelled detention probability of 5.22%. Three components contributed full or near-full points. The deficiency rate component (c1) scored 15 out of 15, reflecting the elevated recent deficiency history. The severity mix component (c3) scored 10 out of 10, driven by the breadth and seriousness of deficiency categories found at the April 2026 Tekirdag inspection, which included ISM and emergency system findings. The flag and class component (c5) also scored 10 out of 10, reflecting the combination of Antigua and Barbuda registration and Polish Register of Shipping classification. Age baseline (c6) added another 10 points, consistent with the vessel's 29 years. Notably, the detention history component (c2) scored zero, reflecting the vessel's previously unblemished detention record. The manager churn component (c4) also scored zero. A marine casualty from November 2002, when the vessel was named A.B. Lubeck, contributed 2 points. No sanctions exposure was identified, and AIS behaviour scored clean. Certificates seen at the April 2026 Tekirdag inspection present a concern. Multiple statutory certificates, including cargo ship safety equipment, safety construction, load lines, IOPP, IAPP, and IEE certificates issued by the Polish Register of Shipping, carried expiry dates of 31 August 2026, which have now passed. The safety management certificate and maritime labour certificate, issued by Dromon Bureau of Shipping, expired 30 September 2026. The Document of Compliance expired on 17 June 2026. Whether these certificates have been renewed is not visible in the data, but inspectors at Burgas would have examined them.
What to watch
The immediate question is the scope of deficiencies behind this detention and the timeline for rectification. Given the number of certificates that appear to have expired in August and September 2026, certificate validity is a probable factor. Charterers and underwriters should confirm whether the Polish Register of Shipping has renewed all statutory certificates and whether the Dromon Bureau of Shipping has reissued the SMC and MLC. The vessel's three flag changes in under a year and its very recent management changeover to Planet Gemi, a company with no prior track record on this hull, are factors that should inform fixture and cover decisions. The next inspection after release will be closely watched; a further detention would materially alter the risk profile.
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