Oil Pumping Operation on Grounded Tankers Hampered by Bad Weather

[Picture: Maritime and Port Bureau]

Fuel oil is being pumped from two oil tankers that ran aground on the coast of Kaohsiung June 14, but operations have been hampered by large swells and heavy rain today, June 17.

Efforts to drain the ships stepped up today, but work had to frequently stop as waves continued to pound the MT Shine Luck, which is grounded against concrete wave-breakers.

The Winner 19 is grounded on sand on Linyuan Beach, and while there is less threat of the vessel breaking up, authorities ordered the owners to remove the potential threat to nearby fisheries.

The Ministry of Transport Maritime and Port Bureau held a meeting with representatives of the respective ship owners, who were ordered to submit plans for removing the fuel oil from the vessels yesterday.

The plans submitted were approved in principle, and the ship owners and relevant work units were ordered to start work immediately.

The Maritime and Port Bureau said that there is no pollution in the waters around the ships at the present time. However, with continuing unstable weather and ocean conditions placing the vessels at risk of breaking up, authorities want the potential pollution threat eliminated as soon as possible.

Fortunately, the ships were not carrying oil cargo at the time of the groundings.

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