The crewless tanker that washed ashore near Robertsport, northern Liberia coast last week, the Tamaya 1, does not belong to Panama’s register of ships any more, Panama Maritime Authority (AMP) said in a statement.
According to the AMP’s director general Fernando Solorzano, the ship’s registration from Panama’s registry was cancelled on October 27, 2015. The reason behind the cancellation was sale and transfer of the ship to a party in Nigeria.
Solorzano added that the AMP could not undertake an investigation into the incident as it no longer had grounds for it seeing that the ship was no longer registered under the Panamanian flag.
According to local sources familiar with the matter, the ship is being secured by a huge number of police officers following an arrest of several individuals suspected of having stolen crude oil and other items from the ship.
Liberia’s maritime and coast guard representatives visited the ship on Thursday, May 5th, to inspect its condition, and found the documentation on board to be outdated.
Investigation is said to be underway into the events that led to the tanker’s beaching along with the fate of its crew.
World Maritime News Staff