The Tribune

By JADE RUSSELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

jrussell@tribunemedia.net

ATTORNEY General Ryan Pinder said his office is considering fining the owners of a ship that sank off Abaco late last year and has yet to be removed.

The Onego Traveller, which is registered in Antigua and Barbuda, sank with heavy fuel on board on December 29, 2022.

In February, Mr Pinder said the government ordered the ship to be removed from The Bahamas within 45 days.

Yesterday, he said: “The ship is still in our waters. We have been advised that a salvage company has been selected and will begin work on the salvage of the ship. We are looking at the possibility of imposing fines for their delay.” 

He said officials couldn’t give a proper environmental assessment of the incident because the ship hasn’t been removed.

Environmental advocate Joseph Darville said the ship poses no current environmental challenge.

“Far as I could know, there was nothing streaming like oil or fuel from the ship because I’m sure they would have been able to close the areas off where it might have been able to escape,” he said yesterday. “And so far, there is nothing that’s happening now that would cause any serious damage to the environment.”

 “As the attorney general said, the path is going to be to actually lift the thing (ship) up and get it onto a barge and get it out of here. And then after that is accomplished, then to assess the actual damage to that specific area.”

 Up to January 11, remediation efforts for the ship were continuing, with 3,119 tons of steel coils and 4,505 tons of Ferix in bulk still submerged in waters up to that time, according to the Ministry of Transport and Housing.