On June 23, Taiwan claimed that it has at last got back US$1.22 million in outstanding fines from auctioning a South Korean chemical tanker in 2011.
A pollution incident caused the Taiwanese authorities to seize the Onyx in February, 2011 fines were ordered subsequent to the incident and couple of attempts to sell the ship failed before.
- The Onyx had been detained in Mailiao Harbor in southern Taiwan’s Yunlin County.
- Samho owed more than US$2 million in fines levied for a 2005 chemical spill in Taiwanese waters.
- Taiwan faced a huge clean-up operation after the vessel partially capsized off northern Taiwan’s Hsinchu County after colliding with the 10,000-dwt general cargo ship In October 2005.
- Taiwan’s Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) then issued a total of 53 administrative penalty notices involving NT$79.5 million in fines to Samho Shipping following the pollution incident.
Although Samho Shipping had paid a portion of the money, after five years of legal proceedings, the government has recently recouped nearly NT$39 million in unpaid fines from the proceeds of the auction, the Chiayi branch of Administrative Enforcement Agency said.
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Source: Focus Taiwan
