YM ETERNITY

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Latest news

Container ship released

Normal cargo operations had resumed on the 'YM Eternity', which had been arrested in Sydney, on Feb 10. The vessel was arrested after the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) petitioned the country’s federal court, claiming the shipping line had refused to pay clean-up costs following the loss of 81 containers into the sea from the 'YM Efficiency' in June 2018 off the Australian coast. It has signed a A$15m (US$670,000) contract with Ardent Oceania for the removal of 60 lost boxes, while the anticipated cost to locate and clean-up the remaining missing 16 containers was a further $5m, bringing Yang Ming’s debt to $20m. However, Yang Ming responded that its anti-pollution efforts had been sufficient, having responded quickly and effectively to the incident with the immediate allocation of very significant resources and manpower to the loss of the containers and their contents. “Yang Ming has been ever since committed to keeping the Hunter Coast pristine and working with the New South Wales government to ensure all debris that could possibly be associated with the incident is cleaned up within hours of its being reported – even if it was not actually from cargo on the ship. These clean-up operations were at very large expense, all paid by Yang Ming and our insurer.” It also claimed that, for a significant number of containers lying in deep water, their removal would be more environmentally damaging than simply leaving them untouched. “The operation to remove the containers shall result in plastics within the containers being released into the ocean. As a consequence, these experts have recommended, considering all the environmental factors, the containers are best left on the sea floor pending further monitoring of the release of plastics.”

Arrest in Sydney

The 'YM Eternity' of the Yang Ming Maritime Company, owners ot the 'YM Efficiency' which lost 81 containers off the Hunter Coast in 2018 was arrested at the DP World Sydney Container Terminal after its arrival on Feb 8, 2020, over a multi-million-dollar pollution debt. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) petitioned the Court Admiralty to recover the debt. The AMSA said the cost of the clean-up could hit $20 million, which the Taiwanese shipping company had refused to pay. In the morning the Court Admiralty Marshall arrested the 'YM Eternity' at Port Botany after it petitioned the court to recover the outstanding debt.

New Charter fixed

6-8 months trading Asia, 9500 $ daily, HMM