CONTAINER ship the YM Eternity has been released from arrest at Port Botany.
The Eternity, flagged in Liberia but operated by Taiwanese shipping company Yang Ming, was arrested in relation to unpaid debts associated with the YM Efficiency, a ship that famously lost 81 containers over the side off the coast of Newcastle in mid-2018.
The arrest was at the behest of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority.
But in a statement to DCN, AMSA confirmed the ship had been cleared to leave.
“After reaching an agreement with the insurers of the YM Eternity on the security to be provided, the ship was released from arrest on 10 February,” AMSA said.
“AMSA has never taken action to recover debts through the Marshal before and it is not something that we have done lightly.”
According to AMSA, the refusal of Yang Ming and its insurers to discuss payment for the pollution clean-up had “left us with no other option but to seek to recover our costs through the Federal Court”. “As the matter is now before the courts AMSA is unable to comment further but looks forward to finalising this matter,” the regulator stated.
