Indian SCI-owned VLCC Desh Vaibhav arrested in Singapore

A VLCC owned by the Shipping Corporation of India was arrested late Thursday in Singapore, according to records from the sheriff of the Singapore Supreme Court.
The 316,409 dwt Desh Vaibhav, a VLCC built in 2005, was arrested Thursday by solicitor Incisive Law LLC, the sheriff's arrest list posted on the Supreme Court's website said Friday.
Captain Sunil Thapar, SCI's director for bulk carriers and tankers, declined to comment on the reason for tanker's arrest but said it was "some dispute which is being sorted out."
Incisive Law declined to comment.
An arrest of a ship is "the detention of a vessel by judicial process to secure a maritime claim," according to the International Convention Relating to the Arrest of Sea-Going Ships.
Shipbroker sources said the Desh Vaibhav was on its way to the Middle East when it was arrested in Singapore. They said it was provisionally chartered by Indian refiner Reliance for a Persian Gulf to Jamnagar voyage, loading October 4-5.
Earlier this week, the VLCC Gulf Sheba was detained in Rotterdam for a loan default. It is owned by Dubai-based Gulf Navigation Holding and was built in 2007.
The Gulf Sheba was discharging its cargo at Rotterdam "when DNB, the agent of the lenders for the Gulf Sheba Corporation, issued notice of arresting the vessel at Rotterdam," Gulf Navigation said Monday in a statement to the Dubai Financial Market, one of three stock exchanges in the UAE.
The arrests of the Desh Vaibhav and the Gulf Sheba come at a tough time for the VLCC market with freight earnings hovering near $7,000/day.
Time charter equivalents -- the daily earnings on a VLCC from the Persian Gulf to Far East -- have fallen from a daily average of $37,000 in 2010 to $12,000 in 2011 and $16,000 last year, according to a researcher with a ship broking company.
Source: Platts