A bulker controlled by Greek shipowner Navios has run aground on a reef off the Maldives in the Indian Ocean.
The 58,735-dwt Navios Amaryllis (built 2009) was sailing from India to South Africa when the incident occurred on Thursday. The Panama-flagged ship has a crew of 19, who are all safe.
Navios Shipmanagement, operators of the Navios Amaryllis, confirmed the casualty in a statement issued to TradeWinds.
“All crew members are safe on board and there have been no reports of any injuries,” a company spokesman said.
Navios said it regretted the incident and that a full damage assessment was now underway, including in respect of the refloating of the vessel.
No pollution reported
“There are currently no reports or concerns regarding the vessel’s water-tightness nor of any pollution,” the spokesman confirmed.
The vessel appears on the fleet list of US-listed master limited partnership Navios Maritime Partners and is chartered out until the end of August 2021 at a rate of $8,835 per day, according to its webpage.
The Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) said in a statement that the vessel had “suffered an engine failure”. However, TradeWinds was unable to confirm this.
“The owner of the ship is coordinating with related government authorities and taking the necessary measures for the ship to resume its journey,” the MNDF said.
The Edition website said a tug was being brought from Sri Lanka to refloat the vessel at Rasfaree reef in Kaafu Atoll.
The tug was due to arrive on Monday morning.
The MNDF said on Saturday that Antarc Maldives has been hired as the Navios Amaryllis' agent in the country.
The MNDF said the salvage will be carried out under the instructions of the Coast Guard.
As well as being a popular tourist destination, the Maldives is increasingly being seen as a location for ship-to-ship transfer operations, catering from clean products to LPG.
