A Ship That's Going Nowhere

(11/27/2010)

A medium-sized oil-tanker stranded on the reef off Bali's popular Sanur beach since November 6, 2010, is raising fears that the ship could be holed or broken up, disgorging oil along the beach and causing horrific environmental damage.

While port officials have been guarded in making comment on the grounding or identifying the ship's ownership, the State news agency Antara has identified the ship as an oil tanker owned by the State oil company Pertamina.

This was further confirmed by the head of the Bali Water Police, Agus Tuta Supranggono, who said, "following an investigative process, we were eventually able to identify the ship stuck on the reef for three weeks as a vessel owned by Pertamina."

Officials say current plans are for the ship, with a carrying capacity of 28 tons of fuel, will be pulled off he reef on December 7, 2010.

The crew and Captain of the stranded ship have stayed on board the vessel since its initial grounding in order to continually monitor the ship's condition and avoid any oil spillage threatening Bali's eastern and southern shores.