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Vietnamese Coast News

14 Feb 2019

APL Vancouver En-route to Singapore

The fire-stricken 9,200 teu APL Vancouver is en route to a Singapore lay-by berth for inspection by surveyors, following the decision last week to declare general average (GA)."The vessel was cleared for departure on February 12th following inspections by the Salvage team and Class surveyor," said a press note from APL.Additional safety measures have been provided for its voyage to Singapore, including an escort tug.At about 0330 hours on 31 January, off the Vietnamese coast, a fire started in a cargo hold forward of the vessel’s accommodation block. The ship, in transit from China to Singapore, had to be partly evacuated then.The incident…

28 Jul 2017

Vietnam asks Indonesia to Investigate South China Sea Shooting

Vietnam's foreign minister has asked his Indonesian counterpart to investigate and clarify reports that the Indonesian navy shot and wounded two Vietnamese fishermen in the South China Sea, the foreign ministry said on Friday. Pham Binh Minh told Indonesian foreign minister Retno Marsudi by telephone that the reported incident was "very serious ... and not appropriate with the strategic partnership relationship between Vietnam and Indonesia," the Vietnamese foreign ministry said in a statement. "Vietnam is deeply concerned about this incident and proposes Indonesia to quickly investigate and clarify the incident and inform Vietnam of the results and to stop repeating similar acts," Minh was quoting as saying.

26 May 2017

US Delivers Ship to Vietnam Coast Guard

The U.S. Coast Guard transferred a high-endurance cutter to its Vietnamese counterpart in Honolulu, the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi said on Friday, in the latest effort to deepen ties with its former foe. The move follows an increase in exchanges between the two countries, ahead of a visit to the United States next week by the Vietnamese prime minister and a recent delivery of six patrol boats to the Vietnamese coast guard. The ship will help the Vietnam Coast Guard carry out maritime law enforcement, and conduct search and rescue and other humanitarian response operations, the embassy said in a statement. "This cutter provides a concrete and significant symbol of the U.S-Vietnam comprehensive partnership," said U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm. Michael J. Haycock, its chief acquisition officer.

07 Sep 2016

Chinese Coast Guard Involved in Most S.China Sea Clashes

Photo: State Oceanic Administration People's Republic of China

Increasingly assertive action by China's coast guard ships in the South China Sea risks destabilising the region, according to the authors of new research tracking maritime law enforcement incidents across the vital trade route. While the risks of full-blown naval conflict dominates strategic fears over the disputed waterway, the danger of incidents involving coast guards should not be underestimated, said Bonnie Glaser, a regional security expert at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank.

04 Nov 2015

Japan Delivers 2 Used Ships to Vietnam

Japan delivered on Tuesday two used ships to the Vietnamese Coast Guard to help the Southeast Asian country strengthen maritime security, reports the Japan Times. The two 600-ton vessels, provided in a ceremony in the city of Da Nang, will be refurbished into patrol boats in disputed waters of the South China Sea. The ships are the second delivery of a 2014 deal for Tokyo to provide Vietnam with six used fishing vessels that will be converted into patrol ships for Vietnam's coast guard and fisheries ministry. The Abe administration agreed last year to provide Vietnam with six used ships to help Hanoi cope with heightened tensions in the South China Sea. Two were delivered earlier and the remaining two will arrive by the end of this year.

28 Jun 2015

China Oil Rig Returns Off Vietnamese Coast

China has again deployed the Haiyang Shiyou 981, a semi-submersible oil platform which caused a standoff between Chinese and Vietnamese vessels last year, to the disputed South China Sea region, reports local media. China has brought the deepwater oil rig  near Vietnam’s Hoang Sa (Paracel) Islands. The Chinese Maritime Safety Administration said on its website the oil rig is located at 17 degrees 03.75 minutes north latitude (17-03.75N) and 109 degrees 59.05 minutes east longitude (109-59.05E). According to Reuters the move comes soon after the country indicated it was close to setting up new outposts in the maritime heart of South-East Asia as it nears completion of land reclamation in the South China Sea. The announcement said the rig would explore for oil and gas until August 20.

03 Jun 2015

US, Vietnam to Bolster Maritime Security

The United States and Vietnam are committed to deepening their defense relationship, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi during a news conference with Defense Minister Gen. Phung Quang Thanh. The US will provide $18 million to Vietnam to help procure coast guard patrol vessels, a first step in what Secretary of Defense Ash Carter hopes is a growing military relationship between those two countries. The initiative marks the first major development on defense cooperation between the two erstwhile enemies since the partial lifting of the decades-old U.S. arms embargo against Vietnam late last year (the embargo still excludes lethal arms). The U.S.

05 Jan 2015

Bulk Jupiter Search and Rescue Ongoing

No new crewmembers or debris from the sunken vessel Bulk Jupiter have been detected during the recent search operations, ship’s owner Gearbulk Holding Limited reported. A fleet of vessels and planes, under direction of the Vietnamese Coast Guard are participating in the operations from where Bulk Jupiter issued distress signals. The Gearbulk vessel Sunbird Arrow is also assisting the SAR operation. A representative from Gearbulk's Bergen office has travelled to Vung Tao, Vietnam, where the surviving Cook and the bodies of the two deceased arrived yesterday. The cook was initially shielded from the public and taken to a hospital for appropriate medical attention before he was able to meet with authorities.

15 Jun 2014

China Never To Send Military To Oil Rig Spat With Vietnam

A Chinese official said on Friday that China will never send military forces to the scene of an increasingly ugly spat with Vietnam over an oil rig in the South China Sea and accused Hanoi of trying to force an international lawsuit. A senior U.S. Scores of Vietnamese and Chinese ships, including coastguard vessels, have squared off around the rig despite a series of collisions after the Chinese platform was towed into disputed waters in early May. Vietnam has accused China of sending six warships, but Yi Xianliang, deputy director-general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs, said that Beijing had never sent military forces.

13 Jun 2014

China: No Military Force to Settle Oil Rig Spat

A Chinese official said on Friday that China will never send military forces to the scene of an increasingly ugly spat with Vietnam over an oil rig in the South China Sea, and accused Hanoi of trying to force an international lawsuit. China claims about 90 percent of the South China Sea, but parts of the potentially energy-rich waters are also subject to claims by the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan. China is also involved in a territorial dispute in the East China Sea with Japan. Scores of Vietnamese and Chinese ships, including coastguard vessels, have squared off around the rig despite a series of collisions after the platform was towed to the area in early May. The rig's deployment triggered anti-Chinese riots in Vietnam last month that killed at least four workers.

11 Jun 2014

Vietnam says China Moving Rig; China Denies Sending Warships

Vietnam said on Wednesday a Chinese oil rig at the center of an increasingly bitter territorial dispute appeared to be on the move again, as China denied Vietnamese accusations that it had sent warships to the scene. The rig's deployment triggered anti-Chinese riots in Vietnam last month that killed at least four workers. Scores of Vietnamese and Chinese ships, including coastguard vessels, have squared off around the rig despite a series of collisions after the platform was towed to the area in early May. In a statement, Vietnam's Directorate of Fisheries said the rig had shown signs of moving towards the east and southeast. China had 119 vessels in the rig's operating area, it added, including six naval ships and four circling military aircraft.

05 Jun 2014

Video: Vietnam Boat Sank after Collision with Chinese Vessel

Vietnam state television has broadcast video showing a Chinese ship colliding with a small Vietnamese fishing boat which capsizes in its path not far from where China has parked an oil rig in disputed waters. Vietnam and China have already traded accusations over who was to blame for the May 26 incident, as tensions fester between the two countries over the giant drilling platform in the South China Sea. The video, shot from a nearby Vietnamese craft, shows a much larger Chinese vessel steaming after two Vietnamese fishing boats. It bisects the two boats, then the Vietnamese ship closest to the camera suddenly tips on its side into the path of the larger vessel and overturns. At the moment of impact, one man on the boat from where the footage was filmed yells in Vietnamese: "Oh!

31 May 2014

Xi Says China Won't Stir Trouble In South China Sea

Chinese President Xi Jinping has vowed not to stir up trouble in the South China Sea but said China would react "in the necessary way" to provocations by other countries, the official Xinhua news agency reported. The comments come at a time of deep tension between China and Vietnam over Beijing's decision in early May to move an oil rig into disputed waters between the Paracel islands and the Vietnamese coast. Days after China deployed the rig, the Philippines accused Beijing of reclaiming land on a disputed reef in the Spratlys to build what would be its first airstrip in the South China Sea. "We will never stir up trouble, but will react in the necessary way to the provocations of countries involved…

26 May 2014

Taiwan's New Port Coming Up In Disputed South China Sea

Taiwan is building a $100 million port next to an airstrip on the lone island it occupies in the disputed South China Sea, a move that is drawing hardly any flak from the most assertive player in the bitterly contested waters - China. The reason, say military strategists, is that Itu Aba could one day be in China's hands should it ever take over Taiwan, which it regards as a renegade province. While Itu Aba, also called Tai Ping, is small, no other disputed island has such sophisticated facilities. Its runway is the biggest of only two in the Spratly archipelago that straddles the South China Sea, and the island has its own fresh water source.

16 Dec 2013

Kerry Announces U.S. Assistance for Maritime Capacity in SE Asia

Secretary of State John Kerry (Source: U.S. Department of State).

On December 16, Secretary of State John Kerry announced an initial commitment of $32.5 million in new regional and bilateral assistance to advance maritime capacity building in Southeast Asia. Including this new funding, our planned region-wide funding support for maritime capacity building exceeds $156 million for the next two years. As an example of our commitment to strengthen maritime capacities in Southeast Asia, the United States intends to provide up to $18 million in new assistance to Vietnam to enhance the capacity of coastal patrol units to deploy rapidly for search and rescue…