Manganese Ore Cargo Contamination Incident on M/V 'FALMOUTH BAY' at TIANJIN Port

The vessel, M/V 'FALMOUTH BAY', was chartered by SOUTH 32 MARKETING PTE LTD for the current voyage. The vessel was loaded with a total of 54,000 MT of Manganese ore in bulk at the loading Port of Groote Eylandt, Australia, and was planned to be discharged at the Port of TIANJIN, China.

On July 18, 2023, at approximately 0936hrs LT, the vessel arrived at the anchorage of TIANJIN port, and the pilot boarded the vessel at the same time.

On July 18, 2023, at around 1212hrs LT, the vessel was securely moored at berth #S5.

Discharging operations of the cargo from the subject vessel at TIANJIN port commenced at approximately 1525hrs LT on July 18, 2023.

At around 1643hrs LT on July 18, 2023, while discharging from hold NO.5, the crane's grab hit the sloping plate of the starboard side topside tank (No. 2S fuel oil tank), causing the plating to break and resulting in fuel oil leakage into the cargo hold, contaminating the Manganese ore cargo.

The master promptly issued the Letter of Protest (LOP) and informed the relevant parties about the incident.