CERES I

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Shadow tanker still being investigated after allision

The offloading of the naphtha cargo iof the 'Hafnia Nile' was underway. The investigation into the incident also continued being led by Malaysian authorities and monitored by Singapore as the flag state of the product tanker. A portion of the cargo which was owned by Cespa and bound for Japan was recoverable. The offloading was to be completed in the next few days with the support of the Malaysian authorities. An unnamed tanker has been positioned to receive the naphtha. The 'Hafnia Nile' was underway near the eastern side of the Singapore Strait when it made contact with the tanker 'Ceres I '. It was expected that the 'Hafnia Nile', after having completed the offloading, would be permitted to proceed to a shipyard for repairs. investigators continued to explore it as an allision in which the 'Hafnia Nile' struck the 'Ceres I', which was believed to be at anchor. Among the points to be investigated, however, was if the vessel was broadcasting an accurate AIS signal and was at anchor as alleged. The vessel was linked to the operations hiding Iranian oil and it was in a known area used for illicit ship-to-ship transfers. The vessel is also reported to have a history of falsifying its AIS signal location and going dark. The ownership also remained clouded with it being registered likely to a shell company in Hong Kong that has not provided statements since the incident.

Tanker did not flee, but was adrift after collision

After the 'Ceres I' collided with the 'Hafnia Nile' on July 19, the anchor chain of the tanker on the starboard side was cut off and subsequently caused the vessel to drift, according to the Director General of Malaysia's Marine Department Capt Mohamad Halim Ahmed at a press conference on July 30. The comments made by Director General contradicted previous statements made by the Malaysian Coast Guard that the 'Ceres I' had disappeared and fled the scene to be intercepted in the early hours of 21 July being towed by two tugs. It was reported at the time that the Ceres I had turned off its AIS transponder, however Capt Halim stated that it had communication and navigational issues. The 'Ceres I' was found 20 nautical miles from the collision site near the resort island of Tioman. It was not clear what happened to the two tugs previously reported to be towing the VLCC and arrested by the coastguard. Both the 'Ceres I' and the 'Hafnia Nile' were anchored in Malaysian waters. Based on preliminary investigations, the 'Ceres I' was anchored at the time of the collision due to technical problems. The 'Ceres I' is alleged to be a part of the dark fleet that trades sanctioned cargoes and was last reported carrying a cargo of Iranian crude oil in March. The vessel is operated by the little-known company Shanghai Prosperity Management.

Ceres I was a "serial phony"

Ahead of investigating various allegations against the 'Ceres I', the priority was still the safety of the ships. The priority was to keep the tankers afloat, especially the 'Hafnia Nile'. The Malaysian authorities were working with the Singapore authorities on this issue. The initial investigation has not detected any oil spill, only a layer of oil suspected to have been caused by the 'Hafnia Nile'. The salvors have placed an oil containment barrier around the 'Hafnia Nile' to control the situation. There was no reported oil spill from the 'Ceres I'. The 22 crew members of the 'Hafnia Nile' were rescued by the RSS 'Supreme' of the Republic of Singapore Navy. The crew of the 'Ceres I' were still on board the vessel, which was unladen and headed to Langshan. In the aftermath of the collision, the 'Ceres I' was identified as a "serial phony", ships that deliberately manipulate AIS data to disguise their actual location. The 'Ceres I' also discharged Iranian heavy crude into waters off the U.S. East Coast around June, in an area known for storage and ship-to-ship transfers of sanctioned Iranian, Venezuelan and Russian oil bound for China.