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
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.