An oil tanker that left the site of a collision and fire east of Singapore has been intercepted off the coast of Malaysia in the early hours of Sunday, Malaysian maritime authorities said.
Ceres I, a crude oil tanker sailing under the flag of Sao Tome & Principe, and the Hafnia Nile, a Singapore-flagged refined-products tanker, crashed early Friday morning in one of the world’s busiest waterways, setting both ablaze. Ceres I appears to then have switched off its transponder for more than a day, according to Bloomberg ship-tracking data.
An aerial survey detected some traces of a spill, but further checks and an investigation will follow.
Ceres I was built in 2001, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, meaning it’s still in use well beyond when most owners would consider scrapping a vessel. It was also sailing under an obscure flag, used by only 55 vessels out of a merchant fleet of tens of thousands of ships — both characteristics common to almost all dark fleet ships.
The vessel, a very large crude carrier or VLCC, hauled cargoes from Iran and Venezuela earlier this year and last year, according to data from market intelligence firm Kpler.
The exact cause of Friday’s crash remains unclear.