Stakeholders do not respond to Ho Chi Minh City Port Authority
On September 18, speaking with Lao Dong Newspaper, a representative of the Ho Chi Minh City Maritime Port Authority said that when assigned to verify and investigate the incident of the Morning Vinafco ship dropping a container at sea, the Port Authority sent a document requesting relevant parties to provide information about the battery and authentic documents.
However, due to not receiving any response from the parties, the Ho Chi Minh City Maritime Port Authority temporarily reported that the Vietnam Maritime Administration would not investigate the incident.
A representative of the Ho Chi Minh City Maritime Port Authority emphasized: "After that, we held a meeting and asked the parties to provide documents, especially about the batteries. We need to know whether the batteries have been installed in the car, what the chemical composition is, what type of battery and the exact weight to assess the environmental impact. If the number of batteries is more than 10 tons, we will have another report."
In addition, the representative of the Ho Chi Minh City Maritime Port Authority also said that today, the unit continued to send documents requesting parties to provide detailed information about the battery type, toxic components and exact weight.
"The documents must be authenticated, it cannot just be stated in the text that there is a battery. Without detailed and authentic information, we cannot assess whether there is an impact on the environment or not" - a representative of the Ho Chi Minh City Maritime Port Authority added.
Salvage is under the jurisdiction of the environmental agency.
Regarding the salvage of containers, a representative of the Ho Chi Minh City Maritime Port Authority said that this is the authority of the environmental agency. The detailed salvage will be carried out by the cargo owner, and the final decision will depend on the assessment results from the relevant parties.
"The job of the Maritime Port Authority is to investigate maritime accidents and take preventive measures to avoid similar situations; participate in resolving civil and criminal disputes," said a representative of the Ho Chi Minh City Maritime Port Authority.
As reported by Lao Dong Newspaper, at 8:00 a.m. on December 20, 2023, the Morning Vinafco ship of Vinafco Shipping Joint Stock Company departed from Chua Ve Port (Hai Phong) to Ben Nghe Port (Ho Chi Minh City) to deliver goods.
At around 9:00 p.m. on December 22, 2023, when the ship was moving through the waters of Cu Lao Cham, 37 containers fell into the sea, including many containers containing new electric cars with a total battery weight of more than 10 tons.
In June 2024, the Vietnam Maritime Administration assigned the Ho Chi Minh City Maritime Port Authority to coordinate with the Da Nang Maritime Port Authority and relevant agencies to verify and investigate this incident. The Vietnam Maritime Administration also warned that car-carrying containers pose a risk of polluting the marine environment.
On August 9, 2024, the Ho Chi Minh City Maritime Port Authority issued a report on the incident. According to this report, the containers that fell contained new cars (including electric cars), electronic goods, spare parts, paper and bricks... and there were no environmental pollution factors from the goods. On that basis, the Ho Chi Minh City Maritime Port Authority recommended that the Vietnam Maritime Administration not investigate this incident.
On September 18, the Ho Chi Minh City Maritime Port Authority sent a document to Phuong Anh Trading and Transport Company Limited (the owner of the goods) to verify the incident of the Morning Vinafco ship dropping a container at sea.
According to the Ho Chi Minh City Maritime Port Authority, on June 11, 2024, the Port Authority sent a document to Phuong Anh Trading and Transport Company Limited to provide detailed information on the goods arranged and transported in each container reported to have fallen into the sea (amount of fuel, lubricants and accompanying pollutants (if any) on the cars). However, by the time the Ho Chi Minh City Maritime Port Authority issued a report on August 9, 2024 to the Vietnam Maritime Administration on the results of the incident verification, the company had not yet provided the relevant information as requested.
Then, on August 28, 2024, the Ho Chi Minh City Maritime Port Authority held a meeting with the participation of representatives of Phuong An Company, representatives of Truong Nam Company and representatives of the shipping unit, Vinafco Shipping Joint Stock Company. Accordingly, the port authority continued to request relevant parties to provide and supplement documents, records, conclusions, appraisal reports, etc. However, up to now, the port authority has not received any information related to the goods (lithium-ion batteries).
Therefore, to continue to serve the verification and investigation to clarify the cause of the incident of the Morning Vinafco ship falling 37 containers at sea, the Ho Chi Minh City Maritime Port Authority requests Phuong Anh Trading and Transport Company Limited to coordinate with the manufacturer to urgently provide relevant information, which must include information about the batteries (with authentic documents) installed on the transported cars:
Whether or not Lithium-ion batteries are installed in crashed cars.
Physical and chemical properties of the battery, state of existence, number of dropped batteries, weight of each battery, name and chemical concentration of toxic substances contained in the battery.
Battery water retention capacity, its impact on the environment and treatment and response measures to minimize environmental impact.
