Tanker owner fined NT$3 million for Port of Taipei vinyl chloride leak

Taipei, Dec. 16 (CNA) The Ministry of the Environment (MOENV) has fined the owner of an Indonesian tanker NT$3 million (US$92,411) for the ship's leakage of the carcinogen vinyl chloride into the air around the Port of Taipei, the agency said Monday.

Chang Shun-chin (張順欽), head of the MOENV's Department of Atmospheric Environment, told CNA that the vessel in question was initially flagged due to malfunctioning equipment when it stopped at the Port of Taipei in August.

When the vessel returned in October, prosecutors and environmental officials detected elevated levels of vinyl chloride -- a flammable gas used in PVC production -- in the air around the port, and required the ship's crew to "address the issue" before it was allowed to depart, Chang said.

Specifically, after unloading its cargo, the vessel failed to use pressurized nitrogen to purge the pipeline between the ship and the port's storage cylinders of vinyl chloride residues.

This caused vinyl chloride residues to leak into the air, which blew first in the direction of the sea, but later toward a nearby residential area, Chang said.

On Monday morning, the Shilin District Prosecutors Office said that after completing an investigation into the leak, it had agreed to defer prosecution against the ship's captain and first mate, on the condition that they pay a combined NT$13 million in fines.

Following the announcement, the Ministry of the Environment said it had also fined the vessel's owner NT$3 million for violations of the Air Pollution Control Act.

Taiwanese media outlets have not named the vessel behind the leak or the company that owns it, but based on photos it appears to belong to Soechi Lines, a Jakarta-based tanker firm.