One of two empty oil tankers that ran aground on the coast of Kaohsiung on June 14th broke into two pieces on June 18th. As reported in IMN yesterday, three anchored vessels broke off their moorings at the dock of Dingpo Feng, Taiwan, and were beached by a storm off the coast of southern Kaohsiung during the evening of June 14th. Oil products tanker Shine Luck (IMO 9047128) and oil products tanker 19 Winner (IMO 8613190) grounded at the Linyan Garden and the Beidi Beach in Fengbitou. No crew were lost. Both tankers had a cargo of fuel on board, and leaks were seen as a threat. A third ship, the Mariner Lauder, also broke loose, but was able to manoeuvre away from the rocks.
The salvage operation successfully recovered 120 tons of fuel oil from the fuel tanks of the ship on June 17th.
Shine Luck and Winner 19 ran aground at around the same time on the evening of June 14th, a result of a tropical low that had almost reached typhoon strength making landfall in south-west Taiwan.
Shine Luck lost power, but the crew reported that they made repairs. However by the time the crew had restored power it was too late to make headway against the gale force winds. Crews of both ships said that the two ships had almost collided with each other as they were blown toward the shore.
The Winner 19 ran ashore on a sandy beach, but the MT Shine Luck came to against concrete wave-breaks near the entrance to a fishing port. She was stuck against the sea wall with the stern on the sea bottom, and although salvage workers did their best to stabilize the ship with cables, waves continued to pound the ship broadside, rocking the vessel’s hull back and forth against the sea wall.
On the morning of Monday June 18th the MT Shine Luck snapped in two just forward of the bridge. The bow section was immediately towed to Kaohsiung Port Intercontinental Container Terminal in order to avoid it drifting away and causing a navigation hazard. The stern section will be removed when weather conditions improve.
1992-built, Panama-flagged, 3,274 gt Shine Luck is owned and managed by Sino Marine Ltd of Kowloon, Hong Kong.
http://taiwanenglishnews.com/fuel-oil-removed-in-nick-of-time-as-grounded-ship-breaks-up/
Meanwhile, After oil products tanker 19 Winner (IMO 8613190) ran aground off Kaohsiung port, the local authorities have ordered the shipping company of the tanker to pump out the oil from the vessel. They also have asked for the firm to submit their salvage plan and proposal on pumping out the oil immediately to avoid any marine pollution. 1986-built, 1,597 gt 19 Winner is owned and managed by Azer Enterprises of Batam, Indonesia.