The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) has requested the Iranian maritime authorities to investigate last week’s shooting incident involving five Iranian Navy boats and a Singapore-registered tanker Alpine Eternity.
MPA said that Singapore is deeply concerned concerned with such actions, seeing that the freedom of navigation and free flow of commerce are of critical importance to the country and other maritime and trading nations. Such interference with navigational rights is a serious violation of international law, said MPA.
As World Maritime News previously reported, the Iranian Navy fired warning shots and tried to board the Alpine Eternity while the tanker was transiting the Persian Gulf on May 14.
The reason behind the approach was a legal dispute, with Iran saying that the tanker is liable for hitting and damaging an Iranian-owned oil platform on March 22.
MPA said that the ship’s manager, Transpetrol Ship Management, had reported the incident to MPA on March 23.
As the the tanker’s flag administration, MPA had started a marine safety investigation into the incident in accordance with the International Maritime Organization’s Casualty Investigation Code, and the investigation is still in progress.