Home Sector Operations Captain of bulker that sparked huge Indonesian oil spill faces lengthy jail sentence April 27th, 2018 Sam Chambers Asia, Operations

The Chinese master of the Ever Judger has been named a suspect in the massive oil spill off the coast of Balikpapan in Indonesia’s East Kalimantan.

The captain and 21 members of the crew of the Panamanian ship have been detained in Balikpapan and are suspected of dragging anchor and rupturing a pipeline that led to a huge spill and fire on March 31, which killed five fishermen and has sparked a national emergency with cleanup operations ongoing.

The master faces two charges which combined could carry a 14-year jail term.

“The captain ordered the chief mate to drop anchor,” Yustan Alpiani, the East Kalimantan Police director of special crimes said on Thursday afternoon. Records show the pilot told the captain not to drop anchor at that spot because it was a prohibited area. </s> BEIJING (Reuters) - A tanker carrying Iranian oil and run by the country’s top oil shipping firm was ablaze and spewing cargo into the East China Sea on Sunday after colliding with a Chinese freight ship, leaving the tanker’s 32 crew members missing, the Chinese government said.

Thick clouds of dark smoke could be seen billowing out of the Sanchi tanker, engulfing the vessel as rescue efforts were hampered by bad weather and fire on and around the ship, Mohammad Rastad, head of Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organisation, told Iranian television. (Graphic: Map showing ship collision location - tmsnrt.rs/2CBgqai)

The Sanchi, run by the country’s top oil shipping operator, collided with the CF Crystal about 160 nautical miles off the coast near Shanghai and the mouth of the Yangtze River Delta on Saturday evening, the Chinese Ministry of Transportation said in a statement.

The Panama-registered tanker was sailing from Iran to South Korea, carrying 136,000 tonnes of condensate, an ultra light crude. That is equivalent to just under 1 million barrels, worth about $60 million, based on global crude oil prices.

“Sanchi is floating and burning as of now,” the Chinese ministry said. “There is an oil slick and we are pushing forward with rescue efforts.”

It had sent four rescue ships and three cleaning boats to the site by 9 a.m. (0100 GMT) on Sunday, the ministry added.

Chinese state media CCTV showed pictures of the tanker ablaze and billowing plumes of thick dark smoke.

South Korea also dispatched a ship and helicopter to help. A Korean Coast Guard official confirmed the fire was still raging at 1 p.m. (0500 GMT).

The tanker’s 32 crew members are all Iranian nationals except for two Bangladeshi nationals, the Chinese transport ministry said.

“There is a wide perimeter of flames around the vessel because of the spillage and search and rescue efforts are being carried out with difficulty,” Iran’s Rastad said.

“Unfortunately, up to this moment, there is no news of the crew,” he said.

CF Crystal’s 21 crew members, all Chinese nationals, were rescued and the ship suffered “non-critical” damage, China’s transport ministry said.

Shipping experts said the incident could potentially disrupt shipping in and around Shanghai, one of the world’s largest and busiest ports.

It was not immediately clear how much environmental damage had been caused or the volume of oil spilled into the sea.

The last major oil tanker disaster was the sinking of the Prestige off Spain in November 2002, which was carrying 77,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil and caused one of Europe’s worst environmental catastrophes.

About 63,000 tonnes of its cargo leaked into the Atlantic, damaging beaches in France, Spain and Portugal and forcing the closure of Spain’s richest fishing grounds.

That was almost twice the size of the Exxon Valdez spill, which ravaged Alaska’s coast in 1989.

MAJOR MARITIME INCIDENT

The incident also marked the first major maritime incident involving an Iranian tanker since the lifting of international sanctions against Iran in January 2016.

There was a collision involving an NITC-operated supertanker in the Singapore Strait in August 2016, but there was no loss of life or pollution.

The Chinese government gave no details of the size of the spill. The Foreign Ministry said in a separate statement that the cause of the incident was under investigation.

Reuters ship tracking data shows Sanchi was built in 2008 and was managed by the National Iranian Tanker Co (NITC). Its registered owner is Bright Shipping Ltd.

It was due to arrive at Daesan in South Korea from Kharg Island in Iran on Sunday, according to Reuters ship tracking.

The Sanchi tanker, leased by Hanwha Total Petrochemical Co Ltd, had “valid foreign insurance”, Iranian oil ministry spokesman Kasra Nouri told Iran’s state television.

Hanwha Total was not immediately available for comment.

Norwegian ship insurer Skuld confirmed it was the lead hull insurer for the tanker and the protection and indemnity (P&I;) insurer for CF Crystal.

Related Coverage Factbox: Major oil tanker spills since 1970

“We are working very closely with the relevant authorities to establish the facts surrounding the collision,” it said in a statement.

Sanchi collided with CF Crystal, registered in Hong Kong, which was carrying 64,000 tonnes of grain from the United States to China’s southern province of Guangdong, the Chinese government said.

CF Crystal, which was built in 2011, was due to arrive in China on Jan. 10, according to Reuters ship tracking data. </s> Beijing (CNN) An oil tanker that collided with a freight ship off the east coast of China was still on fire Monday and at risk of exploding, Chinese authorities said.

The Shanghai Maritime Bureau said Monday morning the vessel and leaked cargo were burning furiously and that fumes were hampering rescue efforts. It said that experts believed there was a risk the vessel could explode and sink.

"The poisonous gas ... is very harmful to rescue workers in the field."

Thirty Iranians and two Bangladeshi citizens went missing from the Panama-registered tanker SANCHI after the collision Saturday. Lu Kang, a spokesman for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Monday that one body had been found by search-and-rescue teams but the person's identity hadn't been confirmed.

"The environment and the conditions on the ground are not very favorable for search-and-rescue work and some crew members are still missing, Lu said.

Read More </s> Indonesia has declared a state of emergency after a large oil spill ignited and killed at least four people in the port city of Balikpapan off the island of Borneo over the weekend.

Black smoke rises from a burned oil spill at the waters in Balikpapan, Indonesia, March 31, 2018. A cargo ship caught fire in waters off East Kalimantan province in central Indonesia on Saturday, leaving two people dead and two others missing, an official said.

See also: Oilspill BP Gulf of Mexico: BP Macondo 252 Well Is Effectivily and Finally ‘Dead’ – The Next Oil Spill at Mumbai Coast: Clean up to take 45 days – Oil & Water: An Oil Documentary Like No Other – Stop Deepwater Drilling for Oil in The Arctic: It’s Time to Go Beyond Oil by Greenpeace – Trailer movie H2Oil – Toxic Fuels: Dirty Oil narrated by Neve Campbell – Crude: The Real Price of Oil – A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash – Toxic Fuels: Petropolis by Peter Mettler – Edward Burtynsky: OIL, a photographic documentation – Shell’s Big Dirty Secret </s> BEIJING—An Iranian oil tanker collided with a bulk freighter and caught fire off China’s east coast, leaving the tanker’s entire crew of 32 missing and causing it to spill oil into the sea, authorities said Sunday. Chinese authorities dispatched police vessels and three cleaning ships to the scene after the collision, which happened late Saturday. The South Korean coast guard also sent a ship and a plane to help search for the missing crew members — 30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis. The Panama-registered tanker Sanchi was sailing from Iran to South Korea when it collided with the Hong Kong-registered freighter CF Crystal in the East China Sea, 257 kilometres off the coast of Shanghai, China’s Ministry of Transport said. All 21 crew members of the Crystal, which was carrying grain from the United States, were rescued, the ministry said. The Crystal’s crew members were all Chinese nationals. It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the collision.

State-run China Central Television reported Sunday evening that the tanker was still floating and burning, and that oil was visible in the water. It was not clear, however, whether the tanker was still spilling oil. The size of the oil slick caused by the accident also was not known. Earlier Sunday, Chinese state media carried pictures of the tanker on fire with large plumes of smoke.

The Sanchi was carrying 136,000 metric tons (or nearly 1 million barrels) of condensate, a type of ultralight oil, according to Chinese authorities. By comparison, the Exxon Valdez was carrying 1.26 million barrels of crude oil when it spilled 260,000 barrels into Prince William Sound off Alaska in 1989. The Sanchi has operated under five different names since it was built in 2008, according the UN-run International Maritime Organization. The IMO listed its registered owner as Hong Kong-based Bright Shipping Ltd., on behalf of the National Iranian Tanker Co., a publicly traded company based in Tehran. The National Iranian Tanker Co. describes itself as operating the largest tanker fleet in the Middle East. An official in Iran’s Oil Ministry, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters, said 30 of the tanker’s 32 crew members were Iranians. “We have no information on their fate,” he said. “We cannot say all of them have died, because rescue teams are there and providing services.” The official said the tanker was owned by the National Iranian Tanker Co. and had been rented by a South Korean company, Hanwha Total Co. He said the tanker was on its way to South Korea. Hanwa Total is a 50-50 partnership between the Seoul-based Hanwha Group and the French oil giant Total. Total did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It’s the second collision for a ship from the National Iranian Tanker Co. in less than a year and a half. In August 2016, one of its tankers collided with a Swiss container ship in the Singapore Strait, damaging both ships but causing no injuries or oil spill. Read more: China tightens trade to North Korea under intensified UN nuclear sanctions </s> The front section of an Iranian oil tanker that has been on fire for days off the east China coast has exploded, forcing rescue boats searching for 31 missing sailors to retreat and sparking environmental concerns.

Thirty-two crew members, including 30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis, went missing after the tanker carrying 136,000 tonnes of oil condensate from Iran to South Korea collided with a Hong Kong-registered bulk freighter and caught fire on Saturday in waters about 160 sea miles east of the Yangtze River’s estuary.

Since then, the Panama-registered tanker Sanchi has been ablaze and drifting in the waters between Shanghai and southern Japan.

So far, no survivors from the tanker have been found and only one body has been recovered. All 21 crew members aboard the Chinese ship were rescued.

The front section of the tanker exploded on Wednesday.

“Vessels at the scene have to stop putting out the fire and withdraw back to (a safe distance),” China’s ministry of transport said. “The fire extinguishing operation did not achieve the desired effect,” it said.

China’s largest patrol ship Haixun 01 is fighting the fire after the explosion while organising other vessels to move away, the ministry said.

According to the ministry, Japanese sea police arrived at the scene an hour before the explosion and established contact with Haixun 01.

China’s Ministry of Foreign affairs said on Wednesday that 12 vessels were searching for the missing sailors in the tanker’s vicinity before the explosion, and efforts were continuing to clean up any spilled light crude.

Since the crash, the tanker has been billowing thick plumes of black smoke. Officials worry that the explosion might sink the ship, releasing its 1 million barrels of oil into the water.

The resulting spill would be about three times as big as the Exxon Valdez spill of 1989, one of the worst environmental disasters in history.

“For now, burning might be good for consuming the leaked oil, but there will be some remaining for which disposal will be difficult,” Lin Boqiang, director of the China Centre for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University, told the Global Times.

Sanchi was carrying 1.36 lakh tons of condensate oil when it collided with CF Crystal, a Hong Kong-registered bulk freighter in waters about 160 nautical miles east of the Yangtze River estuary.

Experts are especially worried because the ship is carrying condensate, an ultralight version of crude oil. Condensate is highly toxic and even more combustible than regular crude oil. It also is nearly colourless and odourless, which makes it difficult to detect.

Oil is usually not degradable, meaning the damage to the ocean would be long-term, he said.

Zhao Ruxiang, an expert with China’s Yantai Oil Spill Response Technical Centre, was quoted by the ministry as saying that a simulation test showed condensate oil in the water can evaporate so quickly that it will leave little residue - less than 1 percent after five hours.

“It is toxic and volatile when exposed to air,” Zhao said. </s> BEIJING—Chinese authorities warned Monday that a large Iranian oil tanker that collided with a cargo ship in the East China Sea over the weekend was at risk of explosion and sinking.

In a statement posted online, the Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration said that areas surrounding the Sanchi tanker were still burning, as well as giving off poisonous gas that hindered rescue work. </s> City of Balikpapan is struggling to deal with toxic smoke from fire that killed four fisherman

The Indonesian port city of Balikpapan, on the island of Borneo, has declared a state of emergency after a devastating oil spill spread along the coast, killing four fisherman when it ignited.

The oil spill, which occurred over the weekend, has now stretched to an area of around seven square miles (18 sq km), contaminating the sea and polluting the air with thick black smoke. One protected dugong has already washed up dead on the shore.

The four fisherman died after being caught up in the fire caused by the spill – another is still missing – and the port city of Balikpapan, which has a population of 700,000, is struggling to deal with the toxic smoke.

China: oil slick from sunken tanker trebles in size Read more

“We’re in a state of emergency because of the oil spill’s impact,” said the Balikpapan city secretary MN Fadli. Around 1,200 people who live in the Penajam North Penajam Paser subdistrict reported symptoms of nausea, vomiting and breathing problems after the spill caught fire on Saturday and the city has distributed masks to help residents cope with the smell.

“I may sound like I’m exaggerating, but the state of the bay is like that of a gas station,” said Fadli.

The spill is thought to have been caused by a bulk coal carrier, which was carrying coal from Indonesia to Malaysia, but samples have also been taken from Pertamina, a state-owned oil refinery that has pipelines across the bay. Pertamina has denied it is responsible for the leak.

The full environmental impact of the oil spill is not yet known but it is already affecting the livelihoods of the local fisherman who rely on going out in their boats every day.

The Indonesian Environment and Forestry Ministry said a recovery team was working to contain and clean up the spill. Rasio Ridho Sani, the director general of the ministry, said: “Our team in the field is investigating it thoroughly. We will soon find out how big the impact is on the environment and who will be held responsible.” </s> An Iranian oil tanker ablaze off the Chinese coast is at risk of exploding or sinking, authorities said Monday, as they reported there was no sign of survivors 36 hours after the vessel erupted in flames. The huge fire still raged around the stricken ship, which had been carrying 136,000 tonnes of light crude oil, with thick black smoke billowing from the vessel and the surrounding sea.

Rescuers attempting to reach the crew of 30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis were being beaten back by toxic clouds, China’s transportation ministry said.

The Panamanian-flagged 274-metre (899-foot) tanker Sanchi is “in danger of exploding or sinking”, the ministry said.

State broadcaster CCTV posted a video on Twitter showing the fire seemingly under control as a second vessel sprayed it with a water cannon.

Rescuers had recovered one unidentified body as of Monday afternoon, foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said during a regular press briefing.

“Conditions… are not that favourable for search and rescue work,” he said, adding that “we are also investigating how to prevent any secondary disaster.”

The accident happened on Saturday evening 160 nautical miles east of Shanghai.

The tanker, operated by Iran’s Glory Shipping, was heading to South Korea when it collided with a Hong Kong-flagged cargo ship, the CF Crystal, carrying 64,000 tonnes of grain.

Ten government vessels and “many fishing ships” were helping with the ongoing rescue and clean up effort, the transportation ministry said, adding that a South Korean coast guard ship was also on the scene.

A US Navy aircraft participated in the search on Sunday, scouring a large area before returning to Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan.

As Chinese authorities raced to contain the ship’s leaking oil, experts expressed fear that the accident was poised to create a massive environmental disaster.

Greenpeace said in a statement it was “concerned about the potential environmental damage that could be caused by the 1 million barrels of crude oil on board.” If all of the Sanchi’s cargo spills, it would be the biggest oil slick in decades. By comparison, in the sixth-worst spill since the 1960s, the Odyssey dumped 132,000 tonnes some 700 nautical miles off Canada’s Nova Scotia in 1988, according to figures from the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation website. “It’s very possible this will kill off marine life across a wide area,” Wei Xianghua, an environmental expert at Beijing’s Tsinghua University, told AFP Even under a best case scenario, it would take a “long time” for the area to get back to normal, Wei added. “At present, the only thing to be done is make the best effort to not allow the oil to spread to other places.” China had two vessels working to contain the spill early Monday morning, the transportation ministry said in its statement. Iran’s Petroleum Ministry said the tanker belongs to the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) and was delivering its cargo to South Korea’s Hanwha Total. The ship and its cargo were insured, a statement said. This is the second accident in less than two years involving a tanker owned by the NITC. In August 2016, an Iranian supertanker and a container ship collided in the Singapore Strait, causing damage to both vessels but no injuries or pollution. Saturday’s collision was the latest in a series of fatal maritime accidents to hit East Asia in recent years. Last October, 13 crew on a Chinese fishing boat were killed after their vessel collided with a Hong Kong oil tanker off Japan’s west coast. US Navy vessels have also been involved in some accidents, including a collision between the USS John. S. McCain and a tanker off Singapore last August that killed 10 sailors.
The Chinese captain of MV Ever Juder is charged in connection with an oil pipeline rupture and fire that killed five. He and 21 of his crew are detained in Balikpapan, Indonesia after the ship's anchor was dropped in a prohibited area. The dragging anchor struck and ruptured the pipe.