A grounded Saudi Arabia-registered oil tanker stranded for five days near Hsitzuwan was towed out to sea yesterday without leaving any chemical pollutants, according to the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA).
The tanker Al Farabi ran aground in Hsitzuwan, near the entrance to Kaohsiung Harbor, last Thursday in high waves and winds triggered by the passage of Typhoon Imbudo.
The potential threat to the coastal environment posed by the vessel, which was carrying about 30,000 tonnes of chemicals, including methanol and glycol, prompted the EPA to set up a Cabinet-level taskforce to handle the crisis.
Working with the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, the Coast Guard Administration, local governments and the ship's agent, a special team stationed at the scene decided to try and tow the vessel off the sand.
Last Friday, harbor authorities and the local agent tried to remove the vessel during high tide in the morning tide but the ship's weight worked against it. Officials said that the bottom of the vessel was embedded 2m into the sand.
At that time the tanker was carrying 1,177.5 tonnes of fuel oil, 22,152 tonnes of methanol, 4,693 tonnes of glycol and 4,046 tonnes of glycerol.
"We had no choice but to allow the agent to make a ship-to-ship transfer of chemicals, the first time in Taiwan's history [that such an operation has been conducted]," Cheng Shean-rong (
Cheng said that 8,060 tonnes of methanol was transferred to a chemical vessel, Tai Bah, while 2,000 tonnes of glycol was loaded onto the Golden Tasaka.
The offloading operations went smoothly and were completed early yesterday morning.
Around 5:30am the Al Farabi was pulled free by tugboats and two hours later it anchored in Kaohsiung Harbor.
"Our preparation and standard operating procedure [SOP] for preventing environmental catastrophes caused by serious oil spills worked," Cheng said.
The establishment of a SOP to prevent marine pollution was triggered by an oil spill from the Greek-registered cargo ship Amorgos in January 2000.
About 1,150 tonnes of fuel oil from the Amorgos polluted Kenting National Park.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it