The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) has released APL England to allow the ship to sail from Australia to undertake repairs in China.
In a statement, AMSA said the ship will leave the Port of Brisbane in the evening of the 22 June without cargo and with a new Master.
AMSA inspectors were “satisfied” after attended APL England and checking the ship was fit to sail to China to undertake repairs.
The ship’s previous Master who is facing multiple charges relating to the incident, will leave the ship and be repatriated home.
Prior to allowing the ship to sail, AMSA received a formal written undertaking from the ship’s insurer, Steamship Mutual, that it will pay fines and other amounts that are agreed or imposed by a court in relation to AMSA’s costs in responding to the incident. This commitment, accoridng to AMSA, is for an amount up to $22.5 million.
Additionally, AMSA said it welcomes advice from the owners and insurer that they are in the early stages of tendering for a sonar search of about 1000km2 of water from the Illawarra to Sydney’s southern suburbs where it is believed multiple containers may have sunk, as per the Direction issued by AMSA.
The APL England lost 50 containers in bad weather on 24 May while near the Port of Brisbane. The ship’s Master, as mentioned above, has been charged with offences related to pollution and/damage to Australia’s marine environment as a result of poor cargo handling.
