China-based P&I correspondent Oasis has released a circular noting that the China MSA has issued a notice of correction to charts in respect of unidentified underwater objects off Fuzhou port and Ningde port.
On October 10th China MSA issued No. 41 Notice of Correction to Channel Charts of Chinese Coastal Ports, in which they requested ships to remark the warning statement “Unidentified underwater objects were found in northeastern waters of Heiyan Island, Sansha’ao, Lianjiang, Taiwan Strait, within a radius of one nautical mile from the centre of the circle:
26°23഻39഼, 120°05഻42഼E”
on the three relevant nautical charts, including No. 62001, No. 62151 and No. 2310.
The source of this correction notice is No. 32/22 Navigation Warning issued by Fujian MSA on September 10th 2022.
Oasis P&I noted that, before the issuance of the above Navigation Warning No. 32/22, three major grounding accidents occurred in this area between 2020 and 2022, which resulted in two incidents of serious damage to ships’ hulls and necessitated complex
salvage operations.
The draught of those ships at the time of grounding varied from about 7 metres to 15 metres, with two ships laden and the third one in ballast.
The positions of these three grounding incidents were:
The MSA and Oasis said that the identities of those underwater objects were currently unknown and that they were not shown in the present public nautical chart.
