After five years of red tape, Taiwan has recouped NT$38.99 million (US$1.2 million) in outstanding fines from the 2011 auction of a South Korean chemical tanker following a pollution incident involving another ship with the same owner, authorities said on Thursday.
Authorities sold the 3,880-tonne Samho Onyx that belonged to beleaguered South Korean company Samho Shipping for less than NT$150 million at an auction in August 2011 after two previous attempts to sell the ship that summer had failed, the Chiayi branch of the Ministry of Justice’s Administrative Enforcement Agency said.
The Samho Onyx was seized in February 2011 by authorities looking to recoup outstanding fees owed by the financially stricken owner. It had been detained in southern Yunlin County’s Mailiao Harbor (麥寮港).
Samho owed more than US$2 million in fines levied for a 2005 chemical spill in Taiwanese waters that involved another vessel owned by the Seoul-based firm — the 3,561-tonne chemical tanker Samho Brother.
Taiwan faced a massive cleanup operation after the Samho Brother, which was carrying 3,100 tonnes of benzene, partially capsized off Hsinchu County in October 2005.
The Samho Brother sank to a depth of 74m in the Taiwan Strait off the Hsinchu coast after colliding with 10,000-tonne general cargo ship TS Hong Kong in October 2005.
The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) issued a total of 53 administrative penalties involving NT$79.5 million in fines to Samho Shipping following the incident.
Although Samho Shipping had paid a portion of the money, the administration said that it still owed about NT$64.57 million in the wake of the 2005 spill.
The administration and the Ministry of Justice sold the seized Samho Onyx for NT$146.39 million at an auction in 2011, a portion of which was used to pay crew wages and berthing fees.
After five years of legal proceedings, the government recouped nearly NT$39 million in unpaid fines from the proceeds of the auction, the Chiayi agency said.
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