ASIA PACIFIC: MOL hits back at Forbes’ Wakashio articles

ASIA PACIFIC: MOL hits back at Forbes’ Wakashio articles
Lesley Bankes-Hughes 18 January 2021 https://www.bunkerspot.com/asia/52254-asia-pacific-mol-hits-back-at-forb...

Mitsui OSK Ltd (MOL) has followed bp in rejecting published analysis of the causes of the Wakashio oil spill last year, citing ‘numerous factual inaccuracies throughout the article in relation to MOL and other organisations’ as well as allegations ‘made without evidence or justification’.

In late July 2019, the Wakashio ran aground off Mauritius, which resulted in a spill of around 1,000 metric tonnes of bunker fuel. The vessel was on charter to Mitsui OSK Ltd (MOL) and owned and operated by Nagashiki Shipping. It was reported to have had around 3,894 mt of very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) onboard at the time.

As fully detailed by BunkerspotAs fully detailed by Bunkerspot, in a recent series of articles published by Forbes, author Nishan Degnarain alleged that bp had knowingly supplied ‘faulty’ VLSFO to the Wakashio. He also said that MOL ‘knew the oil exceeded engine safety limits and they were concerned during the Wakashio’s final voyage that this fuel could cause serious engine failure, which they attempted to communicate to the ship’s crew.

‘Both BP and MOL were taking a gamble with the lives of the crew and the coastline of surrounding countries by allowing the vessel to sail with this fuel on board,’ he asserted.

Last week, bp energy major firmly rejected the premise of the Forbes’ articles, describing the ‘allegations and insinuations’ as ‘baseless’.

Now, MOL has issued its own rebuttal of the conclusions drawn by Degnarain, stating that it ‘fundamentally disagrees with and rejects the analysis made in the article based on the misleading interpretation of unconnected information’.

MOL says the cause of the incident is being investigated by local authorities and is expected to become public in the Mauritius courts ‘in due course’. The company says it will continue to fully assist with such investigations and rejects any assertion that it has attempted to impede or hinder these processes.

It continues: ‘It has been established that no mechanical issues whatsoever were involved in the grounding which appears from early reports to have been solely due to safety and navigational issues. There have been no reports whatsoever that the Wakashio had any mechanical or fuel problems in the period leading up to the grounding and the article produces no such evidence.’

The Very Low Sulphur Fuel Oil(VLSFO) purchased by MOL as time charterer and loaded in Singapore was tested and shown to be fully on-spec with international standards, including ISO 8217, says MOL.

‘There is absolutely no evidence to suggest that there were problems with the fuel oil or the use of that fuel in the main engine of the Wakashio that could have caused the incident,’ it concludes in its statement.