The future of the Lighthouse Winmore, an oil tanker registered in Hong Kong, remains unclear after a Hong Kong court declined a request by the vessel’s owner to compel the Marine Department to intervene in its future.

The Lighthouse Winmore was initially detained in the South Korean port city of Yeosu in November 2017 and was officially seized in December 2017 by South Korean authorities for suspected violations of United Nations sanctions.

In October 2017, after receiving a cargo of refined oil in Yeosu, the Lighthouse Winmore allegedly rendezvoused with a number of other vessels and conducted ship-to-ship transfers