Video: Container Vessel Hit-and-Run in Malaysia

Malaysian media reported Tuesday a hit-and-run incident involving the container vessel Olf, which allegedly struck the anchored vessels Tina 7 and Straits 3, causing unspecified but significant damage.

The Tina and Straits were anchored in waters off Kota Tinggi; the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) responded to the incident and rescued a dozen crew from the two stricken vessels. They said that there was no oil spilled.

The Olf did not stop to render assistance at the scene of the accident, and the MMEA had to track her down by radar off Tanjung Ramunia, said MMEA Captain Amran Daud. She was under way from Hong Kong to India at the time of the allision, and was allegedly making for Indonesian waters when MMEA assets caught up to her, he added.

The Olf and her 16 Indian and Sri Lankan crew were detained and handed over to maritime authorities for further action, media say.

As of the morning of February 23, the Olf was at anchor off Pengerang, near the approaches to Singapore, with her listed destination as the port of Pasir Gudang, Johor.

Johor authorities say that a flotilla of hundreds of other idled vessels off the southeastern tip of the state – near the Olf's anchorage – pose an environmental hazard, especially from illegal bunkering and tank-washing activity. Malaysian maritime agencies say that they have limited enforcement powers to deal with the problem as the vessels are just barely outside of their territorial waters.

The MMEA has uploaded video of the incident, available here. 

A spokeswoman for Wulff Reederei, the Olf’s previous owner, told Maritime Executive that the vessel was under new management at the time.”We can confirm that the vessel Olf was not owned or managed by us on day of the incident. The vessel was sold to foreign owner on February 12, 2016. Before that she was owned and managed from our side under the name Elbwolf,” she said in an emailed statement.