Maritime Herald 5 Nov 16;
The product tanker Spottail ran aground in Singapore Strait on half mile off Pulau Takong Besar, Indonesia. The vessel left Singapore en route to Sri Lanka under cargo, but after failure of the steering gear hardly stuck with the portboard into a rocky shallow. The crew was unable to refloat the ship and requested assistance from the local authorities. At the scene of the troubled product tanker were dispatched tug and rescue boat, which should make an underwater inspection and estimate the damages caused by the grounding. The investigation for the circumstances and root cause of the accident are under way.
There were no injured people during the accident and no report water pollution. The salvage will be prepared carefully, due to high danger for causing breaches into the tanker’s hull. The towing will be done after assessment of the damages and at high tide, probably late today.
The product tanker Spottail (IMO: 9409479) has overall length of 228.00 m, moulded beam of 32.00 m and maximum draft of 8.50 m. The deadweight of the ship is 74,997 DWT and the gross tonnage is 40,975 GRT. The vessel was built in 2009 by Minaminippon Shipbuilding in their shipyard in Usuki, Japan. The product tanker Spottail is operating under the flag of Marshall Islands and managed by Prime Tanker Management.
M/T Spottail Incident
Prime website 7 Nov 16;
Our M/T Spottail with IMO No.9396672, ran aground at Pulau Takong Besar Island (Indonesia) at the coordinates Long. 103 42.7E and Lat. 01 07.3N on the 2nd of November 2016 at 01.10 hours local time, while sailing in ballast to Fujairah.
There have been no reports of any injuries or pollution and after taking soundings, the Master reports that there is no water ingress.
Salvage Company has been appointed for the refloating operations. Two Managers’ Superintendents together with a Salvage Master from the H&M insurers and a Salvage Master from the Salvage Company have boarded the vessel to evaluate the situation and to prepare the refloating plan, while two tugs with divers are on the scene. Divers inspection completed on the 7th of November.
Having obtained the required approval by the Port Authorities, re-floating operations are expected to commence on the 8th of November.
A comprehensive incident investigation has commenced in order for the contributing factors and root cause analysis to be determined. Based on the analysis of facts, this is not an incident attributed to equipment failure.
We will regularly update our website on further developments.
M/T Spottail Successfully Refloated
Prime website 2 Nov 16;
M/T Spottail was successfully refloated on the 8th of November at 14:27 hours local time and sailed to the NIPA Transit anchorage for inspection.
As soon as the incident investigation is finalised, the full investigation report will be available in the OCIMF incidents database.
M/T Spottail: Inspection after Refloating
Prime Website 9 Nov 16;
Underwater and tank internal inspection has been carried out today – in the presence of NK Surveyor – in way of the area that touched bottom. Vessel was found free of any apparent damage affecting Class.
