Two oil tankers impounded off Johor

Jassmine Shadiqe, New Straits Times 14 Nov 09;

KOTA TINGGI: Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) southern region enforcement officers impounded two Singaporean-owned cargo tankers and detained 21 crew members for illegally transferring fuel between the vessels on Wednesday.

MMEA southern region enforcement chief First Admiral (Maritime) Che Hassan Jusoh said the agency's patrol boat, Pelindung 3, captained by Commander Abdul Hadib Abd Wahab spotted the tankers anchored next to each other about 2.7 nautical miles off Tanjung Ayam about 12.30pm.

The officers discovered fuel being transferred from a Singapore-registered MT Sea Hawk to the Kiribati Island-registered tanker, Baltic Glory. Both vessels are owned by a Singaporean company. The crew, comprising 15 Indonesians and six Indian nationals, were detained.

The tankers' owner had apparently failed to alert the department about the transfer and had not paid the required fees.

"They also failed to inform us of the ships' arrival in Malaysian waters," Che Hassan said.

He said the MMEA southern region had from July this year, impounded 17 vessels that had violated regulations.

Fifteen of the vessels were illegally transferring fuel while two were carrying out oil tank cleaning activities in Malaysian waters.

Che Hassan urged fishermen and the public to alert the agency via the Maritime Operation Centre's 24-hour hotline at 07-2199401 or 07-2219231, if they stumbled upon such illegal activities in Malaysian waters.