Asia/Pacific News
Detained Bulk Carriers Leaving Indonesia
More than 20 bulk carriers that had been detained in Indonesia are being allowed to leave the ports after the Chinese Embassy intervened, Chinese shipping news site SinoShip News reports.
"As far as we know, currently there haven't been any more legal Chinese ships detained at the ports," bulk shipping company Shanghai Erli International Ship Management said in a statement.
The shipper said its vessels, Aeriko and Royal Ocean, had been allowed to leave a port in the Indonesian province of Southeast Sulawesi.
Indonesian authorities said the detentions occurred because some Indonesian miners did not have completed paperwork and some export quotas have expired, an embassy official told the news site.
Indonesia has implemented a new policy this week forbidding raw ore exports, a regulation that local exporters oppose.
After the bulk carriers were detained earlier this month, the director general of coal and minerals at Indonesia's mining ministry said it wanted to give miners flexibility to export concentrate or processed minerals until 2017.
