Fire on 2 ships at Kutubdia: Mother vessel Captain Nikolas allegedly imported illegal LPG

Fires broke out on two vessels early today (13 October) when the mother vessel "Captain Nikolas", which allegedly imported liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from countries under international sanctions, was transferring LPG to lighterage vessel "Sophia" in the outer anchorage at Kutubdia in Chattogram.

Captain Nikolas is one of the two vessels that anchored in Chattogram Port last week to unload about 70,000 tonnes of LPG by misreporting the country of origin of the product, according to the LPG Operators Association of Bangladesh (LOAB).

The fires started at around 12:45am today.

Upon receiving information, Bangladesh Coast Guard and Bangladesh Navy teams rushed to the spot and started working to tame the blaze, confirmed Coast Guard spokesperson Lt Commander Khondoker Munif Taki to The Business Standard.

According to Taki and other officials, the fire on Captain Nikolas was doused at around 3:30am and the flames on Sophia were brought under control at around 12:30pm — around 12 hours after the fire started.

A total of 31 crew members of Sophia have been rescued alive and taken to Chattogram city, where they were provided first aid.

No casualties have been reported so far, said Taki.

Today's incident, however, has raised concerns over the safety of maritime operations involving LPG cargo and the protocols for ship-to-ship transfers in the Kutubdia anchorage area.

Five navy ships, two coast guard ships and several fire and rescue teams worked together to douse the fire on Sophia, anchored in the outer anchorage west of Kutubdia coast in the Bay of Bengal, said Lt Commander Taki.

However, coast guard and navy personnel are still working to contain the risk of re-ignition inside the vessel, he said at around 12:30pm.

Taki said the navy and coast guard ships came to the scene upon receiving calls from the local administration soon after the fire started in the early hours and rescued the members of Sofia's crew first. Since then, they have been working to bring the situation under control.

They were yet to know how much LPG it was carrying and how the fire started, he added. "The coast guard and other agencies concerned are investigating whether it was an accident or an act of sabotage."

LOAB's concern

In a letter sent on 6 October, LOAB urged the Chattogram Port Authority (CPA) and other concerned authorities to act against illegal LPG imports from countries under global sanctions.

LOAB claimed that the vessel GAS GMS (IMO 9131539), supplied by Octane Energy Group FZCO, arrived at Chattogram Port on 3 October. This vessel is suspected of carrying LPG sourced from Iran, a country currently under international sanctions.

Captain Nikolas (IMO 9008108), also carrying suspected Iranian LPG, was expected to arrive on 6 October, it said.

"We have credible information indicating that, like previous cases, this vessel will falsely declare its cargo as being loaded from Iraq — a country that does not load such vessels. This deliberate misrepresentation further compounds the illegal nature of these shipments," claimed the association.

The LOAB letter alleged that 2,56,252 tonnes of LPG were illegally imported from embargoed countries between January and August last year, which took $175 million out of Bangladesh.

Several banks were accused of facilitating these imports through letters of credit, under the leadership of a controversial businessman from Chattogram.

The letter requested the CPA to stop the unloading of LPG from GAS GMS and Captain Nikolas, detain the ships and their crews, and conduct a thorough investigation to verify the cargo's origin.

However, Captain Nikolas was unloading LPG allegedly with the help of a vested group of CPA and customs officials.

Earlier, in September this year, another mother vessel named G YMM, also reportedly importing illegal LPG, had anchored at the port.

The letter also mentioned that LOAB had earlier sent two separate letters — one addressing the shipping adviser of the interim government on 11 September where it highlighted the illegal entry of LPG cargo from suppliers such as Octane Energy Group FZCO, ManasiGroup, and Merano Group.

The other letter was addressed to the Bangladesh Bank governor, dated 11 September, emphasising the need for stringent financial oversight to prevent LPG import from courtiers facing sanctions.

LOAB expressed frustration that Bangladesh Bank took no action even after being informed.

What authorities say

Deputy Commissioner Saidul Islam, the spokesperson of Custom House, Chittagong (CHC), on 11 September told TBS, "Although the LPG supplier is an Iraqi company, it can come from any country in the world. We have no information that LPG brought in by MV G YMM is not imported by Iraq's Basra Gas Company.

"If any written complaint is submitted to the customs authorities in this regard, then we will look into it."

However, on 6 September, Barsha Gas Company had confirmed in a letter that G YMM had never loaded LPG from the company.

Confirming that the fire on Captain Nikolas was brought under control at around 3:30am, CPA Secretary Mohd Omar Faruk said that it took a long time to douse the blaze on Sophia due to the presence of gas in the vessel.

Regarding misreporting country of origin, he said, "A CPA team inspected Captain Nikolas and another vessel but did not find the allegation true. According to the documents, one ship loaded LPG from Dubai while the other from Oman."

Omar, however, said that this matter would have to be solved by the CHC.

Despite repeated attempts, CHC Additional Commissioner Mohammad Ruhul Amin could not be reached over the phone for comments on the issue as he did not answer.