Parts of Hong Kong’s Kwai Tsing Container Terminals remain closed for clean-up operations
after an oil spillage occurred on the night of 20 August.
The spillage of bunkers happened while Taiwanese liner operator TS Lines’ 1,100 TEU
container ship, TS Kobe, was fuelled at terminals 6 and 7, which are operated by Hongkong
International Terminals.
The marine fuel was supplied by Yee Lee 2, a barge operated by local bunker supplier Yee Lee.
Hong Kong’s Marine Department said that it was alerted to the oil spillage around 2200hrs
local time on 20 August, and immediately executed spillage response measures.
The oil slick is understood to have spread to waters around Kwai Tsing’s terminal 4 and the
Tsing Yi and Stonecutters districts in Hong Kong.
VesselsValue’s ship-tracking data indicates that TS Kobe, which serves TS Lines’ North
Vietnam 2 service, remains anchored at the incident spot.
Representatives at TS Lines and Yee Lee declined to comment when contacted by Container
News, citing ongoing investigations into the spillage Hong Kong bunker barge operators told Container News that the cleanup could take at least a month.
In June, a severe bunker leakage in Singapore took two months to be fully cleared up, with
beaches reopened this month.
Martina Li
Asia Correspondent
