The hull of the Panama-registered freighter Fortune was on Sunday removed from near the coast of Jibei Island (吉貝嶼) in Penghu County after being stranded there for almost eight months.
The ship was subsequently towed away by two tugboats and arrived at the Port of Taichung yesterday morning.
“We thank the residents of Jibei Island for their assistance and support in successfully removing the ship ahead of the typhoon season, which starts next month,” Maritime and Port Bureau Director-General Yeh Hsieh-lung (葉協隆) said. “
Photo courtesy of the Maritime and Port Bureau
“We will ask the ship owner to pay for all the costs involved in removing the stranded vessel, restoring the shore to its original state and monitoring the quality of seawater,” he added.
The cargo ship ran aground near the island about 50km west of Yunlin County on Oct. 17 last year, the bureau said.
As the Chinese ship owner showed no intention of salvaging the shipwreck, the bureau was authorized by the Commercial Port Act (商港法) to remove the vessel to prevent the fuel onboard contaminating the ocean, it said.
Although extraction of the Fortune’s fuel was completed on Nov. 6 last year and a contractor to remove the vessel was recruited by April, a northeast monsoon that usually affects Taiwan from March to May made it difficult to remove the ship, the bureau said.
The contractor needed two months to prepare for the removal of the ship, such as importing equipment, it said.
As the island is a summer tourist destination known for its rich cultural heritage, stone weirs and coral reefs, the contractor was asked to minimize the environmental impact, it said.
In other news, a new passenger terminal at the Port of Keelung can open to the public soon after construction was completed last month.
The new terminal was built by renovating the No. 2 and No. 3 warehouses at the west of Keelung Port. Both warehouses, which were built in 1911, were designated historic buildings in 2014.
The customs area in the new terminal can be accessed by 3,120 passengers per hour, up from 1,200 passengers per hour at the old terminal, Taiwan International Port Corp said.
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