Tempo Interactive 17 May 09;
TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry said 10 cargo vessels and tankers anchoring in shallow waters around Riau Islands to be evicted for posing environmental damages to marine ecology in the area.
“The sea depth where the ships anchored was less than 30 meters,” Erlina Lusiati of the Waters Pollution Sub Directorate said after inspecting area near Galang Island on Saturday (16/5).
The Sub Directorate feared coral and larger sea ecosystem destruction in the area, and planned to order vessels to be taken to nearby Nipah Island. The vessels reportedly weighed over 10.000 tonnes and measured around 200 meters in length.
Sources in Batam commercial development agency said charges for anchoring in the area was lower than that of in Malaysian and Singaporean ports. The source said Malaysia charges around 7.000 Malaysian ringgit (1,964.72) for vessels weighed 9.000 tonnes and a further 300 ringgit (US$ 84.20) for every 100 gross tonnes increase. The ships according to the source paid US$ 2.050 each to Indonesian authorities.
The 10 ships were Word Baltic-Douglas, Word Falcon, Word Med-Douglas, Word Wodge, Washington High Way-Kobe, London Highway-Panama, Mediterranean Highway-Panama, Seven Seas Highway-Panama, Atlantic Highway-Panama, and Hume Highway-Panama.
The report came a day after the end of World Ocean Conference in Manado on Friday, no report on how long the area had been used as ship yards by foreign vessels.
