Filipino ferry stranded in fuel switching fiasco
A fuel switching incident in the Philippines Tuesday caused the stranding of a ferry, along with its 150 passengers, local media in Cebu City reports.
Kenneth Sy, president and general manager of Trans-Asia Shipping Lines, Inc. who operate the ferry, explained that because of the cost of fuel, the firm alternates between the use of heavy fuel oil (HFO) bunkers and distillate.
The M/V Trans Asia 3 used diesel when it left Ozamiz City, switching to HFO bunkers 30 minutes later, and usually switches back to diesel 30 minutes before reaching the destination, Sy said.
However, the Trans Asia 3 crew were said to have failed to turn the valve that switches to HFO during the trip so that when they switched to use diesel 30 minutes before reaching Cebu City, the engine stopped because of the lack of diesel.
"It was negligence on the part of the crew," said Sy.
Ten hours before the Trans Asia 3 incident, 531 passengers on-board the company's M/V Trans Asia 5 has to be rescued after a portion of the vessel's exhaust was reported to have fallen off and hit the turbo engine causing it to malfunction.
Immediately after learning about the two incidents, the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) suspended the operations of the entire fleet of Trans Asia Shipping Lines.
