Following several high-profile shipwrecks leading to significant environmental damage, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) decided to phase out single-hull oil tankers such as Sunrise III with an accelerated schedule.

In 2006, Polaris Shipping Co Ltd, Seoul, purchased four single-hulled oil tankers, including Sunrise III, for conversion to very large ore carriers (VLOC) at Cosco (Zhoushan) Shipyard in China.

Holes cut on the main deck for cargo hatches and coamings would require additional structural strengthening to retain sufficient longitudinal strength after conversion.

On April 21, the Uruguayan Navy ship General Artigas [es] returned to port after a 17-day search during which floating debris from the wreckage was found.

[16][17] In August 2018, the South Korean government approved funding for searching and retrieving Stellar Daisy's voyage data recorder.

[1] Following the sinking of Stellar Daisy, the International Association of Dry Cargo Shipowners (INTERCARGO) has called for an investigation of the causes leading to the casualty.

[23] Only a few days after the loss of Stellar Daisy, another VLOC owned by Polaris Shipping reported structural damage in one of its ballast tanks below waterline, resulting in a small leak.

Like Stellar Daisy, she was fully laden with Brazilian iron ore bound for China when the hull damage was discovered off South Africa.

[30] In May 2017, two cracks appeared on the main deck of Stellar Queen, another converted VLOC owned by Polaris Shipping, during a ballast water exchange operation while the vessel was underway from China to Brazil with empty holds.

The heads of Polaris Shipping were charged for not notifying the relevant government body of defects of the hull of the vessel and for their loading method which was allegedly not certified by the class society.

It was alleged by the prosecutor that the thickness measurement company forged the documents which were to prove that their engineers had fulfilled the annual education required by the licensing entity.

[citation needed] On January 24, 2019, the court however declined to indict at this stage the CEO of Polaris Shipping, Kim Wan-joong, as well as three other persons who had been signaled in the Korean Coast Guard's investigation, including a KRS surveyor and two thickness measurement technicians of a private company involved in forging annual education license document pertaining to qualification of technician working for thickness measurement company.