Government investigating smuggling allegations against Maltese oil tanker

The Maltese government and Transport Malta initiated an investigation into the incident that saw a Malta-flagged oil tanker caught in a stand-off with Libyan authorities in international waters.

MT Baku was accused by Libyan authorities of trying to load and smuggle crude oil to Es-Sider, an eastern port in Libya. But according to the tanker's owner, the claims made by the National Oil Corp were "entirely unfounded".

"The illegal actions in international waters were taken by Libyan naval forces with regard to our vessel," the owners said.

The Maltese government today confirmed that it had been in continuous contact with the owners of the ship and the Libyan authorities, since Sunday evening when the incident occurred.

"Malta, as the flag State of the ship, made immediate representations with the Libyan Government and it was only after its intervention that the ship sailed to outside Maltese territorial waters," the government said.

"The safety of the crew and the ship was of utmost priority throughout the events."

The government insisted it would continue to pursue the matter with the Libyan authorities in order to ensure that Maltese interests are protected in terms of international maritime law, particularly in terms of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

"The Maltese authorities are informed that the Malta registered vessel was always in international waters and there was never any attempt to call at the port of Es-Sider without prior authorization," the government said.

The oil tanker had been fixed on a voyage charter to load 80,000 of crude oil at a safe port in Libya and to carry the same to a safe Eastern Mediterranean European port.

But when Es-Sider was declared as a dangerous port by the Libyan authorities, MT Baku was ordered by its owners to remain in international waters while waiting for the authorities to nominate an alternative loading port.

But while the vessel was waiting for new orders, a Libyan naval vessel approached the tanker ordered the captain to proceed to Misurata under threat of fire.

"We immediately contacted the NOC to confirm once more that our vessel had no intention to proceed to Es-Sider. There followed a tense 4-hour stand-off during which time we were in constant contact with NOC whilst our vessel remained under the threatening scrutiny of the Libyan naval vessel which also prevented our vessel from heading towards Maltese waters," the Maltese owners said.

The Libyan authorities had requested and received a further written confirmation that the vessel would not proceed to Es-Sider. Even though NOC officers said the tanker would be promptly permitted to sail to Malta, the promise "was not maintained".

The owners said the Libyan naval vessel kept on circling the vessel threateningly and allegedly fired two shots in an attempt to push the vessel in the direction of Misurata. 

At this point, the vessel's master sailed towards Malta at full speed "to avoid further illegal intimidation by the Libyan naval forces‎ and a possible escalation."