Chemical Tankers

   The chemical tanker MT Bintang was hijacked and robbed by pirates near Tanjung Piai, Malaysia. The ship was operating on route to Singapore, when armed men boarded the ship with fast wooden boat. They attacked the unarmed ship and were able to hijack it for more than two hours. The pirates robbed everything, which was expensive according to their opinion. They took all the values, technologies and money from the crew before leaving the ship into their fast wooden boat and head to Malaysia. The robberies in the route were quite frequent last years as three more ships were attacked and robbed in the same way. The crew on board of the chemical tanker MT Bintang is in good health and had no injuries during the pirates attack.

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   The chemical tanker Soechi Lesmana caught fire in the engine room on 20 nautical miles off the Indonesian coast. The fire started in the engine room and was followed by explosions. One of the crew members died during the accident and another two are seriously injured. The accident happened on 20 nautical miles off Belang-Belang port in Mamuju, Indonesia. The chemical tanker Soechi Lesmana was fully loaded with 3,000 tons of petroleum products, but the cargo holds remained slightly damages. According to the port authorities the explosion came from the fuel pipes and did not damages the cargo holds. On board of the ship there were 23 crew members during the accident. Two of the seamen were taken to the hospital with serious injuries, one died during the explosion and other 20 people were transported to the port. Still there is no information about pollution during the accident.

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   The chemical tanker Amaranth got blackout and full engine failure during the voyage from Safi, Morocco to Gdansk, Poland. The technical malfunction was the main reason for the blackout, which happened a few miles off the French coast in the Bay of Biscay. The ship agent requested support from the local port authorities and towing tug was sent to the scene of the blackout. The chemical tanker Amaranth was tugged and docked into the CIB Brest Shipyard, where the engine will be repaired. The vessel will have maintenance of the engine and replacement of the defected elements, which might cause delay into the ETA with a few days. After the repair the chemical tanker Amaranth will be fully inspected by the local authorities.

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   Technical malfunction started fire in the engine room of the French chemical tanker Guyenne in Mediterranean sea. The accident happened on 18 nautical miles east off Palamos, Girona and only due to the fast reaction of the crew and the accurate firefighting the vessel was saved and there were no serious damages. The crew was able to extinguish the fire, but after that the engine did not started and the chemical tanker Guyenne was disabled drifting on 15 nautical miles off the shores. The ship's engine ordered tug service and the vessel was towed into the port of Marseille, where the repair of the main engine will be done. Also the local authorities were informed about the accident and requested full inspection of the vessel before returning to operation.

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   Leakage and water pollution was reported from New Mangalore port authorities. The LPG Carrier Al Marona was discharging ammonia into the port, when a strong leakage started from broken pipe. Four people are injured - two crew members and dock workers during the accident. The injured people were transport to the local hospital for medical intervention. The LPG Carrier Al Marona had pipe damage and one of the duty deck officer left one of the valves closed during the offloading operations. The pressure has become harder and broke the pipe. The local port authorities started investigation of the accident and fined seriously the master and shipowner of the LPG carrier - Qatar Shipping. The situation requested evacuation of the ship and the dock from civil and dock workers. The pollution as restricted from the local authorities and the process of cleaning started immediately.

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