Captain of a fuel tanker arrested in May by Indonesian Navy has been jailed for 15 days and was fined with USD13350 according to a Navy spoke person.
The Panama-flagged oil tanker named Nord Joy was detained in May when it anchored in Indonesian waters to the east of the Singapore Strait which is known as one of the world’s busiest shipping lane. The anchored location was considered by the captain and his shipping company as international water. He ship was ordered by Indonesian navy to move to an anchorage near Batam Naval Base for further investigation.
According to reports Indonesian navy demanded an unofficial payment of USD 375,000 to release the vessel, the Indonesian navy denied taking any such unofficial payment form the vessel. The Navy said the fuel tanker was being held for anchoring in Indonesian waters without any permit, Synergy Group, the manager of the Nord Joy also denied being aware of any payment request from the navy.
According to Navy spoke person Julius Widjojono, the vessel has been released after a court hearing on July 7 rule to jail and fine Vivek Kumar, the captain of the oil tanker.
Spoke person from Synergy Group also confirmed release of the vessel after the court hearing held on Batam an island south of Singapore which belong to Indonesia and is home to an Indonesian naval base.
The 600.39 feet long tanker with a capacity of up to 350,000 barrels of fuel, is currently anchored to the west of Singapore en route to Tanjung Pelepas port in Malaysia per the ship date provided by Refinitiv.
A dozen similar cases were reported last year by the Indonesian navy with all vessels released by now, in waters to the east of Singapore.
