Polaris Shipping has taken one of its converted very large ore carriers out of service, after the loss of Stellar Daisy prompted safety concerns over such vessels.

The 280,000 dwt Stellar Unicorn has been anchored off Labuan port in Malaysia since delivering its iron ore cargo to China at the end of May, according to Lloyd’s List Intelligence.

While the reasons for the layup are not clear, the vessel is empty, with no crew on board, said sources with knowledge of the matter. The carrier is probably waiting to go to a scrapyard, said another source.

If that is the case, it may be good news for the industry, whose numerous participants have called for the removal of converted VLOCs following a spate of incidents this year that have called their safety into question.

Officials at South Korean company Polaris could not be reached for comment on Tuesday, but one official said last week the vessel had not yet been retired.

Stellar Unicorn was originally built in Japan in 1993 as a very large crude carrier and was converted to an ore carrier in 2009 at the Shekou yard in China. The vessel is classed by the Korean Register and flies the Marshall Islands flag. Neither society could comment on the fate of the vessel.

Prior to depositing its load in China, the vessel had ended up in Cape Town for repairs as it was found to have small cracks in its hull. It had picked up the iron ore cargo from Brazil and was due to have delivered its load at the beginning of May.

The vessel was on long-term charter with Vale.

Vale could not comment on the status of the vessel’s employment when contacted by Lloyd’s List.

Polaris has been in the news of late not least because of the loss of the Stellar Daisy, another converted VLOC, that had reportedly spilt and sunk in high seas off Uruguay at the end of March, with 22 crew members presumed dead.

After the Stellar Unicorn repair work, another Polaris vessel was found to have cracks in its deck plating and had been anchored off the coast of Brazil with its load, prompting Brazil’s Port State Control to announce it would inspect all such vessels before loading at its ports.

Polaris has said it too is carrying out inspections of all such vessels in its fleet, of which it has 21, with a total capacity of almost 6m dwt, in consultation with KR and Lloyd’s Register and a hull strengthening firm.

Some industry participants have called into question the appropriateness of such conversions on the basis that oil tankers have different structures to ore carriers due to the load distribution.

Given the age of the vessels, they may now be suffering from fatigue, they said.