Urgently develop a plan to handle the incident of the Star Bueno ship running aground in Quang Ngai

Photo caption — Mr. Nguyen Hoang Giang, Chairman of Quang Ngai Provincial People's Committee, spoke at the meeting. Photo: Cao Nguyen/VNA

At the meeting, relevant units informed about the Star Bueno ship grounding incident as well as the process of troubleshooting. Accordingly, the Star Bueno ship (Liberia nationality; deadweight: 178,978.0 DWT, length: 291.97m, width: 45m; cargo: 174,790.0 tons of iron ore; crew: 22 people; fuel quantity according to the general declaration when the ship arrived: DO oil: 163 Mts, FO oil: 2066Mts; Ship owner: STAR REGG VI LLC; with Pacific Trading and Logistics Company Limited as the shipping agent) journeyed from Saldanha Bay (South Africa) to the seaport waters of Dung Quat area, Quang Ngai province, anchored safely at 1:30 p.m. on October 24, 2025. While the ship was anchored waiting to dock to unload goods, due to bad weather conditions, the ship drifted from anchor and ran aground at 2:40 p.m. on October 26, 2025.

To prevent storm No. 13, by the afternoon of November 5, 2025, the Star Bueno had dropped 2 anchors at locations that did not affect maritime activities in the Dung Quat seaport area. At the same time, all fuel tank valves were closed, all measuring pipes were sealed and vent pipe bolts were fixed... to prevent fuel leaks that could cause environmental pollution. All crew members and rescue unit personnel left the ship safely.

Quang Ngai Maritime Port Authority is coordinating with the Central Region Oil Spill Response Center and local competent units to prepare for oil spill response, deploy buoys around ships to prevent the risk of oil spills spreading from ships (if any) and be on standby to promptly respond to any incidents and risks of oil spills from ships that may occur.

After listening to the report, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Sang, Deputy Minister of Construction, suggested that functional units and local authorities need to develop three scenarios: the ship does not sink, does not spill oil; the ship sinks and spills oil or the ship does not sink but spills oil, to come up with response plans. "Currently, it is not possible to tow the ship to another location because towing will cause the ship to sink. At the same time, the waves in this area are large, so no means can be mobilized to pump oil out of the ship. Therefore, there needs to be close coordination between central and local forces, fully prepare means, equipment and human resources, and be ready to respond when necessary," Deputy Minister Nguyen Xuan Sang requested.

At the same time, functional units must develop a plan to handle oil spills drifting ashore to minimize the impact on the environment and people's lives. The possibility of mobilizing international support should the incident exceed domestic response capacity cannot be ruled out. The Vietnam Maritime and Waterways Administration is requested to continue reviewing and counting forces, vehicles, and materials to be ready to respond promptly if the worst situation occurs. "We must prepare for the worst case scenario of a ship sinking and an oil spill. From there, we can develop a plan to respond, handle, and collect oil promptly after the storm," the Deputy Minister emphasized.

Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army Pham Truong Son agreed with the proposals of Deputy Minister of Construction Nguyen Xuan Sang; at the same time, he requested Quang Ngai province to advise owners of aquaculture cages in Dung Quat sea area to urgently tow cages away from the area where the Star Bueno ship is anchored to prevent oil spills from affecting people's property.

Currently, the People's Committee of Quang Ngai province, the owner of the Star Bueno ship and related units are continuing to closely monitor weather developments and the Star Bueno ship to promptly handle any incidents that may occur.

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/xa-hoi/gap-rut-xay-dung-phuong-an-xu-ly-su-co-tau-star-bueno-mac-can-tai-quang-ngai-20251106133348869.htm