Update: "Hijacked" Products Tanker Vier Harmoni "Taken by Own Crew"

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Wednesday August 17, 2016

After initial reports from the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) today indicating that a products tanker with some 900,000 litres of diesel onboard had been hijacked as it sailed from Tanjung Pelepas port in Malaysia, it would now appear that the vessel has been taken by its own crew.

In an earlier tweet, MMEA chief Datuk Ahmad Puzi Ab Kahar said it was believed MT Vier Harmoni, along with her cargo worth an estimated RM1.57 million ($400,000), had been taken to Batam, Indonesia.

While the vessel is still understood to be missing, officials from both Malaysia and Indonesia now say the tanker was taken by its own crew.

The BBC quoted Indonesian Navy spokesman Edi Sucipto as saying the confusion was due to an "internal management problem" while the MMEA elaborated that there had been a dispute between the operator and the crew.

The development comes at a time of relatively few tanker related hijackings, following a spate of "bunker pirate" activity in the waters during recent years.

Information from the ReCAAP Information Sharing Centre (ReCAPP), which covers incidents of piracy and armed robbery in Asian waters, reported in June that such incidents were at a four-year low.