Ghost Ship Threat To Petronas Oil Rig Now Under Control

A “ghost ship’ – a vessel with no crew – that kept drifting in Vietnamese waters, running a risk of crashing into a Petronas oil rig located in Terengganu was successfully towed to a safe spot. Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency or MMEA’s Datuk Mohd Zubil Mat Som reported that an Indonesia-based shipping enterprise informed the agency that a ship that belongs to Limin Rosmina lost control of its tow rope as it was towing the ship named Winposh Rampart without a crew on Monday around 3.15 pm.

The two vessels were in Vietnamese waters at about 120 nm from Kuala Terengganu on their way to Yang Pu in China from Matak in Indonesia. He mentioned that the tow rope snapped owing to poor weather conditions. Winposh Rampart then drifted into Malaysian waters.

Zubil said that in this regard, MMEA had coordinated with Petronas to tow Winposh Rampart to a more secure location.

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The assets in the operation included AW139 aircraft and MMEA’s KM Jujur with six individuals of the MMEA Special Action Team. These had been mobilized to the location of the ghost vessel as Petronas sent SK Pilot vessels and Icon Lotus, he added.

He said that the MMEA Special Action Team synchronized its operations with AW139 to deeply analyze this crisis and come up with ways to prevent the vessel from drifting.

Zubil informed that on Tuesday, members of the Special Action Team had been successfully lowered on the Winposh Rampart from the AW139 aircraft. This took place at 3.30 pm to carry out towing of the vessel by Icon Lotus.

Winposh Rampart is being towed to Terengganu’s Kemaman Supply Base. The process may take up to 65 hours.

Reference: malaysiakini.com

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Source: Maritime Shipping News