Oil tankers held for suspected dumping in Johor waters

The Star 10 Nov 09;

JOHOR BARU: Five oil tankers have been detained in Pengerang waters for conducting illegal cleaning of their tanks.

Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency patrol personnel stumbled upon the five ships docked close to each other, near Tanjung Stapa, at about 10.30am on Sunday.

The agency’s southern commander Laksamana Pertama Che Hassan Jusoh said they found 16 bags of oil sludge on board one of the vessels, M.T. Suwito.

“We suspect that they may have illegally cleaned their oil tanks.

“Meanwhile, the other four ships, M.T. Antago 5, Her Chang, M.T. Antago Power and Eastern Hill failed to inform us of their arrival in Malaysian waters,” he said in a statement here yesterday.

Laksamana Pertama Che Hassan said the five ships might have illegally cleaned their tanks together, adding that the ships had a total of 23 crew members onboard, including 20 Indonesians.

“Initial investigations revealed that M.T. Suwito is registered in Jakarta, M.T Antago 5 and Antago Power in San Lorenzo and Her Chang in La Paz,” he said, adding that Eastern Hill did not have any documents.

Laksamana Pertama Che Hassan said the agency was working closely with the Department of Environment to uncover any illegal dumping of oil sludge in Pengerang waters.

He added that the ships’ owners could be fined a total of RM32,000.