The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) has ordered two tankers out of the nation’s waters on suspected links to a Taiwanese company accused of selling oil to North Korea in violation of UN sanctions, the coast guard said in a statement yesterday.
South Korea on Oct. 19 last year seized the Lighthouse Winmore, a Hong Kong-flagged oil tanker chartered by Billions Bunker Group Corp, registered in the Marshal Islands, for allegedly transferring 600 tonnes of refined oil to a North Korean ship in violation of UN sanctions.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications’ Maritime and Port Bureau on Jan. 9 placed the Palau-registered Billions No. 18 (renamed Kings Way) and Billions No. 88 (renamed Twins Bull) on its no-entry list and a watch list in response to the company’s alleged violation of UN sanctions on North Korea.
The two tankers were denied entry to Kaohsiung Port on Friday, the CGA said.
Coast guard officers the same day inspected the Billions No. 88 in waters off Tainan, but did not find any oil or other sanctioned cargo, it said.
After two days of close monitoring, the coast guard on Sunday dispatched three cutters to inspect the Billions No. 18 in waters 22 nautical miles (40.7km) from a harbor near Kaohsiung Port, it said.
Coast guard officials found no evidence of illegality on the ship, which has one Chinese and 15 Indonesian crew members, the CGA said.
The Billions No. 18 was ordered out of Taiwanese waters and was warned against returning, and the case was reported to maritime authorities and the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office, it said.
The ship was 77 nautical miles southwest of Kaohsiung Port as of 11:30pm on Sunday sailing west, the coast guard said.
The CGA called on shipping, trading and transportation companies not to charter ships they suspect could be used to violate UN or US sanctions, to avoid potential losses caused by the investigation and seizure of their shipments by the authorities.
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