The head of Indonesia’s armed forces said on Friday June 10th that he was investigating a Reuters report that navy officers had asked for a payment of $375,000 to release a fuel
tanker that was detained last week on suspicion of anchoring illegally in its waters.
Detentions of ships and their captains in Indonesia for anchoring in waters which Indonesia has deemed out of bounds has become a growing scandal in recent months, with a number of allegations that the system was being abused for money-generating purposes.
Navy officers at the Batam naval base, which is only a little way south of Singapore, requested an “unofficial” payment to release /oil products tanker Nord Joy (IMO 9814179), two security sources involved in the negotiations told Reuters.
A dozen similar detentions were reported last year. In those cases, the ship owners made unofficial payments of about $300,000 each and the vessels detained by the Indonesian navy east of Singapore were released.
The navy confirmed that it had detained the Panama-flagged Nord Joy on May 30 on suspicion of anchoring in its waters without a permit. However, it denied that any payment had been requested.
General Andika Perkasa, Commander of the Indonesian National Armed Forces, said that he had already started investigating the allegations. “It’s really embarrassing if it’s true,” Andika said on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s top security summit.
Earlier on Friday, Rear Admiral Arsyad Abdullah, the Indonesian naval fleet commander for the region, told media that no payments had been requested and that the Nord Joy was still being detained under investigation.
“Regarding the reports in the media that a navy soldier asked for $375,000 … this was not true,” Arsyad said at a media briefing held onboard the Nord Joy.
He said that the navy had presented legal papers relating to the Nord Joy’s detention to the district attorney on Batam, an Indonesian island 20 miles south of Singapore.
Singapore-based Synergy Group, which manages the vessel, said on Friday that they were “not aware of any demands for money by the Indonesian Navy in relation to the release of the vessel”.
The tanker was boarded by armed navy personnel on May 30th while anchored in Indonesian waters east of the Singapore Strait. Navy personnel then detained the vessel on suspicion of anchoring in Indonesian waters without a permit, violating Indonesian sea passage rights and sailing without a national flag.
The vessel was escorted by navy ships to an anchorage near Batam, 20 miles south of Singapore. The master of the tanker was taken onto the base and told by naval officers to arrange payment of US$375,000 or potentially face months of lost income if the case went through the courts, claimed Reuters, citing two unnamed people involved in negotiations over the unofficial payment.
The Nord Joy had anchored in a position thought to be clear of Indonesian territorial waters on May 26th and on May 30th.
Under Indonesian law, anchoring without a permit carries a maximum penalty of one year in prison for the captain of a vessel and a 200 million rupiah ($13,840) fine.
The Indonesian navy said in November that there had been an increase in the number of detentions for anchoring without permission, deviating from the sailing route or stopping mid-course for an unreasonable amount of time. Vessels were either released due to insufficient evidence or the cases were processed through the Indonesian courts and no payments were made to the navy or its staff, the navy said.
This year the average cost for chartering a refined product tanker the size of the Nord Joy was $30,000-$55,000 per day, according to Clarksons.
For many years ships have anchored in waters to the east of the Singapore Strait while they waited to dock, believing that they were in international waters and therefore not responsible for any port fees. But in recent years the Indonesian navy has said publicly that much of this area is within its waters and that it intended to crack down on vessels anchored there without a licence.
2018-built, Panama-flagged, 29,447 gt Nord Joy is owned by Ever Bright Shipping SA care of Toshin Kisen Co Ltd of Imabari, Japan. It is managed by Norient Product Pool APS of Hellerup, Denmark. ISM manager is Synergy Navis Marine Pvt Ltd of Maharashtra, India. It is entered with Gard on behalf of Keishin Kaiun Co Ltd. As of June 11th the vessel was at anchored north of Batam, south of Singapore.
