Australian authorities have detained a bulker identified as African Heron for carrying high sulfur fuel oil.
“The vessel was found to have non-compliant fuel oil on board with sulphur content above 0.5%. This is not permitted under the carriage ban on non-compliant fuel in Annex VI of MARPOL that came into effect on 1 March 2020,” a spokesperson of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) confirmed to Offshore Energy.
As informed, the ship was detained in Geelong on May 1 and released on May 3 after the non-compliant fuel was discharged ashore and the fuel system cleaned.
The handy bulker, built in 2016, is part of MUR Shipping’s fleet from the Netherlands, data from VesselsValue shows.
