The Anglo & Eastern Ship Owners P&I Club’s website has gone offline amid speculation linking it to the insurance cover for the controversial 96,800-dwt Pablo (built 1997).
The aframax tanker exploded 40 nautical miles (74 km) off Pulau Tinggi, close to the entrance of the Singapore Strait, causing catastrophic damage to its hull and claiming the lives of three crew on International Workers’ Day on 1 May.
The vessel’s insurance status is still unclear.
Local sources have suggested cover may have been placed with Anglo & Eastern, although this remains unconfirmed.
Earlier this month, when the insurer’s website was still accessible, an online search for the tanker Pablo using the ship search function showed no results.
TradeWinds’ attempts to confirm there was no insurance cover with the British Virgin Islands-registered Anglo & Eastern were unsuccessful.
Phone calls to its UK and Hong Kong outposts, and emails, went unanswered.
The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency also did not respond to a request to reveal the name of the insurance company behind the ship.
From the middle of last week, the protection and indemnity club’s website has been down at its usual web address.
The wreck of the Pablo remains in Malaysian waters at the entrance to Singapore.
The Anglo & Eastern name sounds similar to, but has no connection with, ship-management company Anglo Eastern.
Anglo & Eastern describes itself as a shipowner’s mutual insurer, but it operates outside the International Group of P&I Clubs, which represents around 95% of the P&I cover provided to the world merchant fleet.
However, Anglo & Eastern is an internationally recognised P&I insurer.
Approved list
Several flag states, including Panama — the world’s largest — and smaller registries such as St Kitts and Nevis, include Anglo & Eastern in their list of approved marine insurance companies.
Under the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage, the vessel is required to hold recognised insurance to call at its regular destination in China.
The tanker Pablo has raised controversy because of its alleged association with the so-called “dark fleet” of tankers that are involved in sanctioned oil trades.
The ship has been stripped of its flag three times in 16 months, following claims of involvement in trading Iranian crude.
The ship was registered in Gabon when the accident happened. The owner is listed as Pablo Union Shipping, a Marshall Islands-registered company.
P&I insurance covers third-party liabilities such as oil spill clean-up and compensation and wreck removal as well as compensation for crew injury and death.
Three seafarers perished in the incident. The Pablo was in ballast when the explosion occurred, and oil pollution has been limited.
