Orkim Harmony: MMEA Says Shipowner Waited Too Long Before Alerting Authorities to Tanker's Disappearance

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Wednesday June 17, 2015

Vice Admiral Ahmad Puzi Ab Kahar, deputy director general of the operations unit of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA), has criticised the owner of missing tanker MT Okrim Harmony for waiting too long before contacting authorities after it went missing late last week, Reuters reports.

"Orkim only alerted authorities 10 hours after they lost contact with Orkim Harmony," Vice Admiral Ahmad Puzi said.

"The lapse after they lost communication made it very difficult for us." 

The Orkim Harmony operator, Malaysia's Orkim Ship Management, said the vessel was on the way to Kuantan port on the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia from Malacca, with the vessel's last known position southwest of Pulau Aur, Mersing in Malaysian waters.

The vessel reportedly issued no distress call and all communications and tracking systems were said to be turned off.

Vice Admiral Ahmad Puzi also said it would be more difficult for the hijackers to siphon off gasoline from the Orkim Harmony than it was to steal diesel from the Orkim Victory, which was hijacked earlier this month

"In the earlier Orkim Victory case, the pirates siphoned the diesel via ship-to-ship transfer; the RON 95 will be more difficult to transfer as it is highly flammable," said Ahmad Puzi.

"It needs special safety requirements and equipment.

"We believe they [bunker pirates] are looking for facilities to transfer the petrol to their 'customers'.

"The closest registered facilities are in Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam," he added.

On Tuesday, it was reported that even though a hijacking has not been confirmed, MMEA believes Okrim Harmony's disappearance is most likely the work of bunker pirates.