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Authorities at the port of Quang Ngai, Vietnam are working on a plan to offload a bulker that began taking on water during a transit into the port of Dung Quat.
On Friday morning, the bulker Merchant Mariner was inbound for the industrial port of Dung Quat, home of the giant Hoa Phat steel plant. She had a cargo of 174,000 tonnes of Malaysian iron ore on board, and had a draft of about 18.4 meters.
At about 1130 hours, the crew contacted local authorities and reported flooding in three ballast tanks, potenially caused by contact with a reef at a position about 15 nm off the port. AIS data (provided by Pole Star Global) shows that the vessel passed through shallower water with isolated soundings of as little as 18 meters. While transiting this area, she slowed suddenly from 10.5 to five knots, then regained speed (below).
Merchant Mariner slows to five knots after transiting over region of shallower water (Pole Star Global)
FULL ARTICLE AVAILABLE HERE: maritime-executive.com
