More than forty abandoned ships have been scuttled by the Maritime Safety Authority of Fiji (MSAF) from 2014 to date.
MSAF chief executive officer Joweli Cawaki explained that scuttling was the process of sinking shipwrecks or derelict vessels.
“It is quite costly to recover these vessels, but we have a facility called scuttling, which is basically sinking the ships 20 miles south of Suva, the depth should be over 1000 metres,” he said.
“We have two of our pollution officers, the process for this requires the vessel owners to come to us or write to us stating that their vessels need to be scuttled if it’s not being used.
“There is a machine used for scuttling where holes are drilled into the sides of the vessel to allow for it to sink.”
He said MSAF recently completed the scuttling of the MV Uluinabukelevu vessel from Kadavu on Tuesday.
“The cost would be around $189, that’s a flat rate, but they will have to arrange for the boat that will tow their vessel.
“The vessel will need to be cleaned and cleared so that there is no oil or waste in it, but the consent should come from the boat owner.”
According to the standard operating procedure (SOP) for a scuttled ship, the scuttling special survey costs $46, scuttling Tow Master Plan (Tug Unavailable for Towing) costs $28.75 and scuttling tow arrangements costs $115, these costs are totalled at $189.75.
A detailed process would then ensue where the shipowner submits a request letter for scuttling to MSAF, pay the scuttling fees to MSAF and afterwards MSAF will submit a checklist for removal of oil and debris to the shipowner then report back to MSAF after completion of cleaning up and where a MSAF pollution officer conducts final checks to confirm ship is ready for scuttling.
The MSAF pollution officer is to submit an inspection report to the Manager Safety Compliance and Response (MCSR) in partnership with the aid of the navigation officer to provide an approval letter for scuttling with the specified coordinates and depth.
The letter of approval would need to be submitted to Fiji Ports, shipowners also have the option to use a tug or another ship for towing for scuttling ships however the ship must have a special survey, tow plan and payment of towing fees.
Mr Cawaki said some shipowners were also submitting their old vessels for scrap metal.
