On September 17, an official of the Vietnam Maritime Administration said that the Deputy Director of the Maritime Administration is currently directly directing the handling of the incident.
Regarding whether or not to salvage the quantity of goods, including batteries that fell into the sea, Deputy Director of the Maritime Administration - Mr. Nguyen Hoang said that the incident happened quite a while ago, he will review the data and check the information records about this.
Exchanging legal information about the case, Lawyer Nguyen Thi Hong Nhung (ANP Law Firm, LLC) of Hanoi Bar Association analyzed that for specific cases, the authorities need to verify to have accurate results and handling direction.
Regarding general legal provisions, the issue of reporting and investigating maritime accidents is regulated in Circular No. 01/2020/TT-BGTVT of the Ministry of Transport.
Circular 01 stipulates a number of responsibilities of captains, ship owners, ship managers, ship operators and organizations and individuals related to maritime accidents as follows:
Captains, ship owners, ship managers, ship operators and organizations and individuals involved in maritime accidents are responsible for reporting maritime accidents to the Maritime Port Authority or the Vietnam Maritime Administration or the Ministry of Transport promptly and accurately in accordance with the provisions of this Circular.
The captain and crew of a ship involved in a maritime accident are responsible for organizing the protection of the accident scene and the voyage data recording equipment at the time of the maritime accident and providing evidence related to the maritime accident to the investigation agency.
Provide complete, honest and timely information to the investigation agency and be fully responsible before the law for the information provided.
Lawyer Nguyen Thi Hong Nhung added that the issue of handling sunken assets at sea is regulated in Decree 05/2017/ND-CP (Regulations on handling sunken assets on inland waterways, seaports and sea areas of Vietnam) (Decree 05).
"According to the law, in all cases, sunken property in the port waters must be salvaged and the costs related to the salvage will be paid by the owner of the sunken property. Particularly for property that is goods transported on ships, the obligation to salvage and bear the related costs will belong to the ship owner. In addition, the ship owner is also responsible for applying all necessary measures to prevent, limit losses and minimize environmental pollution incidents that may arise from sunken property. If the goods have environmental pollution factors that are not salvaged, the ship owner may benefit from not having to pay the cost of implementation but may have long-term environmental damage," said Lawyer Nguyen Thi Hong Nhung.
Previously, Lao Dong Newspaper published an article: More than 10 tons of batteries dropped into the sea by Vinafco have not been recovered.
Accordingly, the Morning Vinafco ship of Vinafco Shipping Joint Stock Company was transporting goods from Chua Ve Port, Hai Phong to Ben Nghe Port, Ho Chi Minh City. At 9:19 p.m. on December 22, 2023, while moving to Cu Lao Cham, 37 containers fell into the sea. In the containers were many cars containing more than 10 tons of batteries.
In June 2024, the leaders of the Maritime Administration signed Official Dispatch No. 2450/CHHVN - ATANHH assigning the Ho Chi Minh City Maritime Port Authority to preside over and coordinate with the Da Nang Maritime Port Authority and other relevant agencies and units to verify the incident.
The Maritime Administration noted that “the above containers carrying cars may pose a risk of polluting the marine environment.”
