PORT KLANG: Two ships have been rusting away in Malaysian waters as a legal wrangle shows up the hazards facing the agency tasked with enforcing maritime law.
The impasse involving two Bangladeshi vessels began five years ago, when the Banga Biraj and its 15 crew came to national attention after they were stranded following an accident in Northport which resulted in a messy compensation tussle.
The sailors were found starving and emaciated and after the public was alerted, the Bangladesh High Commission and well-wishers came to their aid.
While the men have been taken care of, this vessel is still an island prison as the legal issues surrounding it play out.
In 2012, another vessel, the Banga Bodor, was involved in a maritime incident and is in the same predicament. Today, the two stalled ships are languishing in the busy waterways off Port Klang.
Both vessels were anchored in deep water off Port Klang, but last month both broke their anchors and drifted dangerously before tugboats from Northport towed them towards unused docks. To make matters worse, the Banga Bodor rammed into another vessel, but fortunately both ships sustained only minor damage.
Officials from the Port Klang Authority said that HRC Shipping Ltd from Bangladesh, which owns both ships, has placed skeleton crews on the vessels, the hulls of which are rusting. There are now 10 men on the Bodor and three on the Biraj.
The Edge Financial Daily recently visited the ships and found that both have been run aground by the authorities as a safety measure about 1km from Northport’s busy shipping lanes.
The crew members said the ships broke anchor when the tide was unusually high but they were unable to do anything as the ships’ engines were not working.
“We just drifted and only stopped when we hit the other vessel. Luckily we were pulled to safety,” said one of them.
The crew members, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said HRC Shipping rotates the crew for the two ships every six to 12 months.
“We have been here doing nothing ever since we came. Nothing works on the ships and we have not received our salaries for the last four months.
“As for food, the owners have appointed a local agent who brings us food supplies every week but it’s barely enough.”
The vessels are no longer manoeuvrable as their engines are no longer operational, they said.
How it began
THE saga started when the 11,804-tonne Biraj damaged two container quay cranes while berthing at Northport on Oct 22, 2008. HRC Shipping gave an undertaking to Northport to pay for the damage and the vessel was allowed to sail the following day.
However, the company failed to pay for the damage and on a subsequent call to Port Klang on May 4, 2010, the vessel was served a detention order by the Shah Alam High Court following a petition by Northport to recover costs.
A Northport spokesman said all rights of claim to the ship were subrogated to its insurance company Takaful Ikhlas Sdn Bhd. Northport was compensated by the insurance company, and Takaful is also believed to have been compensated by the ship’s owners.
As for the 9,692-tonne Bodor, this ship needed repairs after it called at Port Klang in 2012. The Marine Department has recently issued a tender notice to scrap the two vessels and the exercise was closed on April 28.
A Port Klang Authority (PKA) official said the ships are in bad shape and could even sink.
“The tender is very timely and hopefully the five-year problem will finally be solved,” he said.
Shipowners prevent sale of ships
However the Marine Department has been stopped from selling the ships as HRC Shipping has filed a lawsuit against the department to prevent the sale of the ship. Hence, a department spokesman said, the tender exercise will be delayed.
The long delay in disposing of the ships has drawn the ire of many in the maritime industry, who blame the authorities for foot-dragging over the situation.
The Marine Department has declined comment in view of the lawsuit. HRC Shipping has not responded to requests for comment made two weeks ago.
In effect, said a PKA official, the ships are enjoying free parking at the port. “If they are taken back to Bangladesh, they would definitely be sold off,” he said.
The issue could have been resolved long ago if quick action had been taken, he opined. The onus was on the Marine Department as it is the only authority with the jurisdiction to deal with such problems, said the official.
With no end in sight to the issue, it now looks like the sailors left on the ships could once again go hungry and live in squalid conditions.
This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on May 19, 2015.