Singapore assisting Indonesia in investigations of ship detentions

NOT all of the supposedly Singapore-registered ships that Indonesia detained earlier this month were actually registered here, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said in a statement on Friday.

Out of the four, only two were Singapore-registered boats, it clarified, adding that the sole Singaporean who was caught along with those ships is a marine surveyor and he returned to Singapore on March 16.

It also said it was assisting Indonesia in the investigations of the two separate incidents.

Indonesia said it had detained a total of four Singapore-registered ships in two incidents in early March, each of which involved boats that allegedly did not have proper papers.

The first incident occurred when Indonesia's sea transport directorate-general said it had caught two Singaporean boats escorting a tanker travelling through Indonesian waters in the Malacca Strait, according to a media report on March 5. The two boats, DM55 Singapore and Sea Sparrow I, were both owned by Singapore-based DM Sea Logistics.

MPA said on Friday that only DM55 Singapore was registered here and Sea Sparrow 1 was Belize-registered.

The second incident happened when the Indonesian coast guard reportedly nabbed two vessels with Singapore flags off Batam Island, according to a report on March 11. The ships, BT ASL Glory and BG AST 183, allegedly did not have a notification letter showing intent to sail through Indonesian waters.

MPA said in its statement that ASL Glory was Singapore-registered while AST 1837 was Indonesia-registered.