Australian authorities have released an APL containership detained in Brisbane last month after its P&I club posted financial security of AUD 22.5m ($14.8m).
The 5,510-teu APL England (built 2001), which lost 50 containers off Sydney after running into heavy weather, is reported to have sailed on Friday.
The Singapore-flagged ship is said to be heading to China to undertake repairs, according to a statement from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA).
'Fit to sail'
AMSA inspectors said they were satisfied the ship was fit to sail to China after an inspection of the empty vessel on Friday.
In late May, an inspection found "inadequate lashing arrangements" for cargo and "heavily corroded securing points" for containers on the deck.
AMSA said then that the findings were a clear breach of requirements under the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea.
“The ship’s previous master, who is facing multiple charges relating to the incident, will leave the ship and be repatriated home,” AMSA said.
“Prior to allowing the ship to sail, AMSA received a formal written undertaking from the ship’s insurer, Steamship Mutual, that it will pay fines and other amounts that are agreed or imposed by a court in relation to AMSA’s costs in responding to the incident.”
AMSA said it "welcomed advice" from the owners and insurer that they are in the early stages of tendering for a sonar search of about 1000 sq km of water from the Illawarra to Sydney’s southern suburbs where it is believed multiple containers may have sunk.
Fifteen of the 50 missing containers have been recovered from the shoreline or towed in after being spotted floating off the coast.
Australia has only just finished retrieving more than 60 containers and their contents from the seafloor off Newcastle after Yang Ming’s ship 4,250-teu YM Efficiency (built 2009) lost cargo in June 2018.
