Vulin Banned from Paris MoU Region After Third Detention

Third Detention Triggers Regional Ban

According to a notice published by Paris MoU, the general cargo ship Vulin has been refused access to the Paris MoU region following its detention in Goole, United Kingdom, on 30 July 2026. The vessel is registered under IMO number 9015448. The 34-year-old ship was flying the flag of St Kitts and Nevis at the time, a flag currently listed as black on the Paris MoU’s White, Grey and Black (WGB) list.

This marks the third detention of the ship within the Paris MoU region over a 36-month period, with previous detentions recorded in August 2025 and March 2026.

Deficiencies and Legal Basis

Inspectors identified seventeen deficiencies on board, two of which were serious enough to constitute grounds for detention. Under Regulation 16 of the United Kingdom’s Merchant Shipping (Port State Control) Regulations 2026 and Section 4.2 of the Paris MoU, repeated detentions of this nature trigger a refusal of access order.

As this is the first such order issued against the Vulin, the ban will run for three months. It takes effect once the vessel departs the port or anchorage in Goole, and applies to all ports and anchorages within the Paris MoU region except those belonging to the ship’s flag state.

Conditions for Exceptional Entry

Paris MoU noted that Regulation 18 of the UK’s Port State Control Regulations 2026 and Section 4.4 of the Paris MoU memorandum allow limited exceptions. Access to a specific port or anchorage may be granted in cases of force majeure, overriding safety concerns, or to reduce pollution risk, or to allow deficiencies to be rectified. Any such entry requires that the company or master demonstrate adequate safety measures to the satisfaction of the relevant authority.

Context: Repeat Detentions Under Scrutiny

The case illustrates how the Paris MoU’s port state control framework escalates enforcement against vessels with a pattern of repeated detentions, particularly those flying flags on the black list. For fleet operators, the incident underscores the operational and commercial consequences of accumulating deficiencies across multiple inspections, which can ultimately result in exclusion from a major shipping region.

Apeks view — A third detention in three years is not an isolated failure but a pattern, and pattern is exactly what triggers automatic escalation under Paris MoU rules. For technical managers, the lesson is procedural: seventeen deficiencies across repeat inspections suggest gaps in how findings from prior port calls were tracked and closed out. Structured, verifiable maintenance and inspection records, reviewed by qualified personnel between calls, are what keep isolated defects from compounding into a regional access ban.