Maersk Diverts Vessels from Tanjung Pelepas Due to Oil Spill

Due to an oil spill which occurred on August 24 at Malaysia’s ATT Tanjung Bin Terminal (ATB), the Danish shipping company Maersk Line is temporarily diverting its vessels from the Port of Tanjung Pelepas container terminal (PTP) to other ports in the area.

Namely, the container carrier said that the spill is impacting Maersk Line and MCC vessel operations at the container terminal.

“Our vessels are delayed due to clean-up operations, including the cleaning of their hulls for oil stains from the spill,” Maersk said.

The oil spill occurred while the tanker MT Trident Star was loading bunker fuel at berth 5 of ATT Tanjung Bin Terminal (ATB), operated by energy storage company VTTI.

An investigation into the incident concluded that oil was being loaded into a non-nominated tank on board of the MT Trident Star and the vessel’s crew failed to timely respond to the activation of the vessel’s high level alarm.

VTTI, owned by energy trader Vitol, said that the operations at the terminal were initially suspended, however, the suspension was lifted after the ATB send a request to the authorities to re-consider the decision.

World Maritime News Staff