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Deepwater Construction Vessel Arrested in Singapore

Jascon
File photo courtesy Sea Trucks Group

Published Jan 18, 2016 3:49 PM by The Maritime Executive

The deepwater construction vessel Jascon 18 was arrested by a court in Singapore last week on complaint from an unnamed shipyard. The yard had worked on the vessel until November, according to original owner Sea Trucks Group, at which point the completed ship reportedly left the yard.

Sea Trucks announced a loan financing “the final stages of outfitting at the Kwong-Soon shipyard in Singapore” in 2014, and the Kwong-Soon yard's Facebook page shows staff having dinner on the Jascon's weather decks in November 2015, suggesting that it is the yard in the arrest complaint.

Sea Trucks Group said in a statement Tuesday that contrary to earlier reports, it is not the current owner of the Jascon 18. The company says that the vessel was sold to unnamed new owners in March 2015 and Sea Trucks was contracted to complete the vessel on their behalf in partnership with the yard.

Multiple vessel data websites list the owner as Nigerian firm Walvis International, which also owns Jascon-series vessels 55, 26, 24 and 10, among others. But Sea Trucks said in a statement Thursday that Walvis is no longer the owner of the Jascon 18. 

“Sea Trucks considers the arrest to be without merit, having arisen out of a dispute between a Group subsidiary company and the shipyard. Sea Trucks is providing the vessel’s owners with its full support in seeking the vessel’s prompt release,” the firm said.

Sea Trucks added that it will continue to work with subcontractors to finish fitting out the vessel and that the subcontractors will continue to be paid despite the arrest.

In a March 2015 leaflet describing the vessel, Sea Trucks said that the 25,000 gt Jascon 18 “is the deepwater flagship of the Group’s DP3 offshore construction vessel fleet.”

Separately, the Kaptanoglu Holdings bulkers Zeynep K and Sadan K, arrested last year, were reported to be set for sale at auction in Durban, South Africa on Tuesday.

Update: On January 18, Sea Trucks spokeswoman Corrie van Kessel said that the Jascon 18 had been released from arrest.