Walvis Bay
The Namibia Ports Authority (Namport) seized a foreign registered vessel yesterday afternoon for allegedly dumping waste material in Namibian waters.
This happended after a resident of Henties Bay found a black plastic full of plastic containers at Solitute north from the angling site, Jakkalsputz on Monday.
Some of the bottles were also scattered on the beach front mainly used for recreation, angling and swimming.
Namport was alerted by New Era on Wednesday after some pictures were posted on social networks by coastal residents who feared more material could have been dumped and that authorities were unaware of it. Some of the labels on the bottles led Namport straight to the suspect, a tanker vessel, Sea Challenger, which docked at the port a few days ago.
Information made available to New Era indicated the vessel is an oil/chemical tanker owned by Perosea shipping in Athens, Greece, although the vessel sails under the flag of Marshall Island.
Corporate Communications Officer at Namport, Jo-Ann Stevens, yesterday afternoon told New Era the crew members of the vessel, which had already left the port after offloading, were recalled yesterday afternoon for questioning and the vessel would be detained pending further investigation.
“The (crew) is denying dumping the material in our waters although the waste clearly bears their stickers. However, we are currently in consultation with the vessel’s agent, Sturrock Grindrod, to investigate accordingly, as this is totally unacceptable,” Stevens explained.
She added that a safety team was also dispatched to the scene to clean up. Another team would also be out at sea to check for possible pollution caused by the waste.
Stevens said the vessel would only be allowed to leave the port after the matter was concluded.
Judging from the information available from the stickers, it is believed the material was dumped probably before or after the tanker left the port of Walvis Bay last August and could have been floating for months before it was detected. If found guilty, the Sea Challenger could pay a penalty ranging from N$12 900 up to N$130 000 depending on the magnitude of the spillage and the clean-up cost.