XIN HAI TONG 18 (IMO 9519004) detained at Varna, September 2026
The Marshall Islands-flagged bulker XIN HAI TONG 18 has been detained at the Bulgarian Black Sea port of Varna on 29 September 2026, marking its fourth detention in a 17-year career and its second in just over 14 months. The vessel has cycled through four ISM managers in six years, switched classification society three times in the same period, and carries a VesselScore of 40 out of 100, placing it firmly in the high-risk band.
VesselScore generates due diligence reports on any vessel in the world fleet.
Request accessThe detention
XIN HAI TONG 18 was detained at Varna, Bulgaria, on 29 September 2026. The detention falls under the Black Sea MoU regime. No details on the specific deficiency count or recognised organisation have been published in the initial THETIS listing. The vessel's AIS position confirms it remains moored in the area. This is the ship's second visit to a Black Sea MoU port in 2026, having passed a clean inspection at Odesa in March, and it follows a catastrophic expanded inspection at Antwerp in July 2025 that produced 37 deficiencies and a detention.
The vessel
XIN HAI TONG 18 is a 57,070 DWT Supramax bulk carrier built in 2009 at Jinling Shipyard in Nanjing, China. She measures 189.99 metres LOA with a beam of 32.25 metres and a gross tonnage of 32,987. The vessel is geared, fitted with four cranes rated at 35 tonnes. She has been Marshall Islands-flagged since delivery, originally under the name Lietta, and was renamed XIN HAI TONG 18 in June 2020 when ownership changed hands. Classification has shifted repeatedly: from Lloyd's Register at build, to Bureau Veritas, then Nippon Kaiji Kyokai, and most recently to Registro Italiano Navale (RINA), which took over class in November 2025. At 17 years old, the vessel sits at the upper end of the age curve for active Supramax tonnage, and the class change to RINA is notably recent, coming just ten months before this detention.
Inspection history
The PSC record for XIN HAI TONG 18 spans 53 inspections across seven MoU regimes dating back to January 2010. The career total of 177 deficiencies yields an average of 3.3 per inspection, a figure that understates the volatility in recent years. Before the current detention, the vessel had been detained three times: at Tanjung Priok, Indonesia, in November 2016 (eight deficiencies); at Salerno, Italy, in February 2023 (11 deficiencies); and at Antwerp, Belgium, in July 2025 (37 deficiencies). The Antwerp detention stands out as exceptional. Thirty-seven deficiencies in a single expanded inspection is a result that points to systemic failures across multiple convention areas, not an isolated oversight. The two Paris MoU detentions in under two and a half years should be a red flag for any charterer considering European trades. Between detentions, the record shows routine low-deficiency inspections in Asian and Black Sea ports, but several higher-scoring inspections punctuate the record: 15 deficiencies at Tianjin in July 2023, 14 at Ghent in April 2015, seven at Singapore in February 2024. The Tokyo MoU accounts for 26 of the 53 inspections, reflecting the vessel's primary trading pattern in East Asian waters, though she has increasingly traded into the Black Sea and Mediterranean. The most recent inspection in the record, at Caofeidian in July 2026, returned three deficiencies covering fire detection, lifebuoys, and rescue boat stowage, areas that are consistent with the life-safety and fire-safety themes that recur across the vessel's history.
Ownership and management
The management chain around XIN HAI TONG 18 is complicated, and the churn is significant. The vessel was delivered in November 2009 to registered owner Neon Shipping Inc, with Soloi Inc as both ISM manager and commercial manager. Soloi held the ISM role until mid-2020, when the vessel changed hands entirely. In June 2020, registered ownership moved to Fortune Guangzhou Shipping Ltd, ISM management passed to Tosco Keymax Intl Ship Mgmt, and Hai Dong International Shpg Co took over as ship and commercial manager. Tosco Keymax lasted less than two years before ISM management shifted again in May 2022 to Fujian Daqin International. That entity was replaced in November 2025 by the current ISM manager, Fujian Dasong Intl Ship Mgmt, a Fuzhou-based company operating a fleet of 23 vessels. Simultaneously, registered ownership changed again in June 2025, from Fortune Guangzhou to Dai Song Ocean Shipping Co Ltd, registered in Hong Kong. The naming convention is telling: "Dasong" and "Dai Song" suggest affiliated entities, and the ISM manager and registered owner appear to be part of the same corporate group. Hai Dong International remains as commercial manager, a role it has held since mid-2020, providing the only thread of continuity. Three ISM managers in six years is a pace of change that the VesselScore model penalises heavily, and rightly so. Each transition creates risk around handover of planned maintenance systems, crew familiarisation, and continuity of safety culture.
Risk profile
VesselScore rates XIN HAI TONG 18 at 40 out of 100, with a modelled detention probability of 9.3%, placing it in the high-risk calibration band. The score is driven by maximum or near-maximum penalties on three components. The deficiency rate component (c1) scores the full 15 out of 15 penalty points, reflecting the elevated career average. The severity mix (c3) also hits the ceiling at 10 out of 10, indicating that deficiencies have clustered in high-gravity convention areas. Manager churn (c4) contributes 10 out of a possible 15 penalty points, capturing the three ISM changes since 2020. The detention component (c2) adds 12.5 out of 20 points, reflecting the prior detentions within the scoring window. The age baseline (c6) scores 7.7 out of 10, consistent with a 17-year-old bulker. Hull condition (c8) contributes a modest 1.8 points, with a degradation estimate of 10.9%, and AIS behaviour (c9) adds 3 points, flagging three loitering events though no dark-activity gaps. On the positive side, the flag and class component (c5) scores zero penalty points, meaning the Marshall Islands flag and current RINA class do not attract a surcharge. Sanctions (c10) and casualty (c11) screens are both clear. The one component that could not be scored, fuel efficiency versus peers (c7), reflects a lack of recent MRV data.
What to watch
The immediate question is the scope and nature of deficiencies behind this Varna detention. Given the 37-deficiency Antwerp result just 14 months ago, charterers and underwriters should watch whether Bulgarian authorities identify similar systemic issues or whether the vessel has made measurable progress under Fujian Dasong's ISM tenure, which began only in November 2025. Release will likely require rectification and follow-up inspection. Under Paris MoU expanded inspection targeting, this detention will significantly raise the vessel's ship risk profile for future European port calls. Charterers should note that the classification switch to RINA is less than a year old and verify that all statutory certificates have been properly reissued and are current. The certificate data in the report shows several certificates last seen with Nippon Kaiji Kyokai expiry dates in late 2024, and confirmation of valid RINA-issued replacements would be prudent before fixing.
Due diligence on any vessel in the world fleet
VesselScore generates due diligence reports covering sanctions screening, full PSC history, ownership chain, market valuation, classification and flag history, AIS tracking, and much more.
Every PSC detention, every Monday
Free weekly digest: every vessel detained by port state control in the past 7 days, with risk scores and analysis.