Wan Hai 503 bid for port of refuge in Sri Lanka fails
Wai Hai Lines, the owners of the Wan Hai 503, have failed in a bid to secure port of refuge in Hambantota in Sri Lanka.
While the China Merchant’s run port had agreed to take the Wan Hai 503 sources indicate that agreement with government authorities over conditions to bring the vessel into the country’s waters for salvage operations could not be reached.
It is understood that the Sri Lankan authorities did not outright reject the application for the Wan Hai 503, however, asked for a Letter of Undertaking (LoU) on the salvage operation to the value of $3.25 billion, a figure which massively exceeds normal limits of liability. As a result, the application for port of refuge has not proceeded.
The application to the Sri Lankan authorities for port of refuge approval in Hambantota coincided with the country’s Supreme Court handing down a $1 billion compensation ruling against the former owners and operators of the X-Press Pearl. The X-Press Pearl caught fire and broke up off Sri Lanka in 2021 resulting it what has been described as the worst micro-plastics spill in history polluting the country’s coastline.
With the failure to agree port of refuge in Hambantota it leaves the Wan Hai 503 with the salvors onboard offshore India and Sri Lanka and adrift on the high seas.
Other potential options for a port of refuge in Southeast Asia and the Middle East continue to be explored, with Penang in Malaysia the most promising at present. Sources said that as with Hambantota in Sri Lanka the port operator in Penang has agreed to take the vessel, but again approval from government authorities will be required.
There will no doubt be concerns over the safety of the damaged vessel in a lengthy towage operation across the Indian Ocean that would coincide with the monsoon season.
The Wan Hai 503 suffered an explosion and fire in its cargo hold that ripped through the vessel on 9 June off the coast of Kerala, India. Four crew from the Singapore-registered vessel are either missing or dead.
The Indian authorities refused to grant the container ship port of refuge in its waters and instead ordered the vessel to be towed out its EEZ while salvors continued to battle the blaze on the vessel. The authorities stood down their salvage operations on the Wan Hai 503 in late July since when responsibility for the stricken vessel has fallen to flag-state Singapore.
