Mount-Troodos

China’s Beihai Maritime Court has sold the 2009-built 181,400dwt capesize bulker at auction. The vessel had been detained by the court since 2016 at the request of Five Stars Fujian Shipping’s creditor Bank of Communications due to debt dispute. The vessel has been sold to an undisclosed buyer for a price of RMB170.6m ($24.8m).

Beihai Maritime Court will hold an auction next month on Taobao to sell the 2009-built capesize bulker , owned by financially troubled Chinese owner Five Stars Fujian Shipping, at the request of the company’s creditors. The vessel has been detained at Fangchenggang Port in Guangxi by the court since September 2016 due to a debt

The 12-month Australian port ban on the "Five Stars Fujian" - the ship detained off Gladstone last year - was lifted on Aug 31, 2017. The vessel was banned from entering Australian ports after not paying its crew wages for 12 months and for its dangerously low food supplies. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority warned the vessel could face a permanent ban from Australian ports if it is detained within the next two years. When the ban was imposed on Sep 1, 2016, AMSA told The Observer it wanted to send a warning to shipping companies involved in similar "completely unacceptable” conduct. Now the Five Stars Fujian Shipping Co will face stricter inspections and punishments. A vessel's inspection history is one of the risk factors that determines how frequently a ship is inspected, so a ship with a previous ban is under added AMSA scrutiny.