VIET HAI STAR

scrapped

General information

Course/Position

Latest news

Harbor Star vessel will only respond to oil spill

The salvage vessel from Harbor Star Shipping that arrived in Balabac town on Nov 27, will only respond to the oil spill from the 'Viet Hai Star', as no official salvage company has been contracted to recover the vessel, the Coast Guard Station Southwestern Palawan (CGSSWP) commander clarified. The mission was only to contain the oil spill from the cargo vessel and to clear affected areas. An additional oil spill boom around the 'Viet Hai Star' was installed, last night, and in the morning of Nov 28, the boom was fixed, and weights were added to prevent it from drifting. After the ship had arrived, the Coast Guard stopped their manual scooping of the oil that spilled out of the vessel and turned the operation to Harbor Star. They were just monitoring the operation and remained on standby. As of Nov 26, personnel of CGSSWP have collected nine drums of oily water mixture and oil-contaminated debris from the vessel and the shoreline and mangrove area of Balabac. The siphoning of the oil still inside the vessel will be done by the company that will be contracted to recover the vessel. Report with photo: https://palawan-news.com/salvor-ship-will-respond-only-to-oil-spill-not-vessel-recovery-pcg/

Salvage ship arrived off Balabac

A salvage ship arrived on Nov 27 in Balabac to assess if the 'Viet Hai Star' can be refloated. The 'MT Salvor' of the Harbor Star Shipping, Inc., commissioned by the PNI consultant for the cargo vessel, arrived at around 5:30 p.m. and was docked just a few meters away from the half-submerged wreck. Officers of the 'MT Salvor' would meet with concerned agencies in the town regarding the current situation of the vessel before deciding what to do next. Personnel of Coast Guard Station Southwestern Palawan (CGSSWP) were continuously conducting manual scooping operations to collect the oil that spilled from the vessel. The oil slick that reached the shorelines and mangrove area was being scooped manually. PCG personnel have collected nine drums of oily water mixture as of Nov 26. The CGSSWP station did not have the capability or any equipment to siphon off the oil spill from the vessel. The ship had on board 29,000 liters of automotive diesel oil. The crew was still in Balabac, awaiting further instructions. Report with photo: https://palawan-news.com/salvage-ship-arrives-to-assess-grounded-vietnamese-cargo-vessel/

Oil sheen observed around sunken ship

The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has deployed oil spill booms around the 'Viet Hai Star' off Balabac. On Nov 24 at around 7 a.m., a response team was dispatched by CGD Pal to inspect the wreck and found out that it was fully flooded due to high tide and rough seas overnight and now settled on a muddy and rocky area of Calandorang Bay. An oil sheen was observed around the area, some 810 yards from Balabac port in Barangay 4. The PCG has dispatched the BRP 'Sindangan (MRRV 4407)' to the area to contain the oil sheen. The vessel was carrying 29,000 liters of automotive diesel oil (ADO) aside from the 80,000 sacks (4,000 tons) of rice. Report with photos: https://palawan-news.com/pcg-deploys-oil-spill-boom-around-grounded-viet-vessel-in-balabac/