India is on the watch for a "toxic tanker" that Bangladesh chased away from its shipbreaking beaches in May.
The Department of Border Management of India's Ministry of Home Affairs has warned that the Gujarat state government that the arrival of the 60,500-dwt dirty panamax tanker J Nat (built 1983) is "imminent".
"It has also been stated that the vessel is considered to be an environmental threat with long run ramifications on security," wrote coastal security commandant HC Upadhyay in the message to Gujarat officials, dated earlier this month.
The former Jesslyn Natuna, which operated as a Indonesian floating storage and offloading vessel (FSO), and its toxic contents made headlines in May when cash buyer Somap International tried unsuccessfully to tow it to the beaches of Chattogram in Bangladesh.
Shipbreaking activists alerted authorities there, who ordered the navy to turn the Indonesian ship away. Members of the Bangladesh Ship Breakers and Recyclers Association were instructed to keep their hands off the vessel.
Ship recycling sources believe Somap still controls the ship and is behind the renewed attempt to dispose of it.
In a telephone conversation with TradeWinds on Wednesday, Somap principal Dinesh Pandey denied that he knew whether the vessel is one that his company controls.
He at first offered to put TradeWinds in contact with a relevant staff member for further questions but then reported experiencing technical difficulties that appeared to render further telephone contact impossible.
Somap also made headlines last December when an Evergreen Line containership sold for "green scrapping" ended up on the beach at Chattogram after a sale to Somap.
Dark activity
The Indian authorities suspect that those in control of the tanker are trying to make it to the beach by stealth with a ship believed to contain a large volume of mercury-contaminated waste, among other pollutants.
"The vessel may [be involved] in 'dark activity' [or] AIS spoofing to dodge detection by Indian maritime forces while attempting to beach at an Indian shipbreaking yard, probably at Alang on its intended final voyage," Upadhyay warned the provincial government.
"In view of the above, it is requested that authorities concerned may be advised for keeping a sharp lookout for the aforesaid vessel, if it reaches Alang ... and take appropriate action in this regard, along with a report to this ministry."
Nicola Mulinaris, communications and policy director of the Brussels-based NGO Shipbreaking Platform, said his group is also aware that the ship may be on its way to Alang and is investigating the matter.
"It has been a mystery for a few days," he said.
The movements of the dead FSO have only been confirmed so far by those of the 9,180-bhp S Cas (built 1985), the vessel that towed it to Bangladesh. Shipping databases list the anchor handling tug supply vessel as owned by Priority Shipping, a Singapore company with no other vessels listed in its fleet.
The S Cas was reported arrested at Singapore in June after returning there from the abortive run to Chattogram.
"We know 100% that S Cas was involved with the towing and export of the J Nat to Bangladesh in May," Mulinaris told TradeWinds.
"We don't know why S Cas was arrested at Singapore. We know that when S Cas did its U-turn from Bangladesh, it was still towing the J Nat. But we are in the dark after that."
The Indian government warning on J Nat's approach list its toxic contents as "around 1500 tonnes of mercury-contaminated waste (with mercury levels of 395 milligrams per kg), 60 tonnes of sludge oil, 1000 tonnes of slop oil and 500 tonnes of oily water." Officials also said there are "toxins/heavy metals within its structure".
Although India has called the arrival of J Nat "imminent", Alang would actually seem to have about three weeks to prepare for S Cas and whatever is at the other end of its towing ropes.
AIS data showed the S Cas off Banda Aceh as of Tuesday 22 September, with a destination given in the captain's report as Bhavnagar in Gujarat state. Arrival was estimated to take place on 14 October.
