‘Ghost ship’ runs aground off Thongwa

A mysterious container ship with no sailors or cargo on board ran aground off the coast of Thongwa township in Yangon Region on Thursday, and a navy team is searching the vessel, the police said.

Myanmar Times link

A huge container ship has drifted out of nowhere and has no crew on board. According to the BBC it hasn't been seen for nearly a decade which raises questions. Where has it been? Whose is it? Where are the crew?

The ship's location was last recorded off the coast of Taiwan in 2009, and this is the first reported instance of an abandoned ship appearing in Myanmar's waters, according to the AFP news agency.

BBC link

The ship is apparently seaworthy and I'm guessing these big beasts are worth a few hundred thousand. They make a lot of money for their owners. In this example, there's no cargo, but was there ever cargo? Was it abandoned with or without cargo? Piracy is rife in those waters, but they also know how to make money by breaking vessels down and selling it all off in pieces.



Are we dealing with high crime on the high seas or something more extraordinary? Marie Celeste and all those Bermuda Triangle legends spring to mind. Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Going to guess piracy in that area. Although they generally hold them ransom or break them down.

Maybe she was in a big storm and taking on water faster than the pumps could keep up with, crew bails, storm slackens, pumps catch it up, ship drifts.

Nine years is a long time! Maybe they'll figure it out some day.

The same general area that MH370 disappeared, perhaps nearly the same time frame.
Que the spooky music. Where has she been for 9 years?

Im waiting the day when actual lost and ancient pirate ship appear on shoreline somewhere.. then something really odd has happened a long time ago.

Baltic dry index would suggest the ship wasn't needed and probably on the way to the India scrappers.
The Bay between Thailand and India has some very shallow areas.
An unladen ship that doesn't draw much water could drift in far enough that salvage efforts would be too expensive?

a reply to: Kandinsky

Surely there is information about the captain and crew, were they reported missing?

It’s as if the ship was deliberately abandoned but surely it would be scrapped instead? Something very fishy going on here..

Good catch

a reply to: Kandinsky

I would hazard a guess that it was moored offshore for either:

1. beaching/stripping.
2. Awaiting drydock.

and then at some stage it has broken its moorings. My conclusion is based upon there being no containers onboard (and severed moorings up fwd). With container ships, this situation (no containers onboard) only exists when it is first launched after construction and usually during statutory drydockings (every 5 years). At all other times, it carries containers during its life - because money.

No cargo coupled with severed moorings (refer bow lines hanging) I would conclude it is opinion 1, mainly because obviously no-one was looking for it to any degree of concern.

ETA: This could also account for the lack of records regarding missing crew....because there were none at the time it was laid-up (cold-stacked mooring)

It is listed as a "Hazard A" cargo ship, which is the most hazardous, so, nasty chemicals/materials.

marinetraffic.com< br />
Strange that it's also still listed as "active."

originally posted by: tjack
It is listed as a "Hazard A" cargo ship, which is the most hazardous, so, nasty chemicals/materials.

marinetraffic.com< br />
Strange that it's also still listed as "active."

Being a container ship, that designation allows for it to carry containerised (iso) chemicals so it is of no hazard if there are no containers as it does not have fuel-oil cargo holds, only container facilities. In particular it is a designation assigned for the AIS (Automatic Identification System) vessel tracking system that port authorities use so they can quickly determine which vessels have priority designations.

It sailed through a Timewarp.

a reply to: tjack

Linked BBC article says it was being towed by an Indonesian tug (with a Malay captain) when it ran afoul of weather and lost its tow whereupon they abandoned the vessel. Knowing the waters of these areas, there are numerous reefs and shallows many of which are uncharted or poorly charted at best. Attempting a rescue would be risky. Vessel was allegedly being towed to ship breakers in Bangladesh.

Were I to guess, vessel was probably involved in unlicensed illicit cargo / trade for years (North Korea, Somalia, etc) hauling illegal hazmat until it needed major overhaul and no legitimate facility would take it so it was abandoned. After having spent some years in Malaysia, you'd be shocked at how many vessels there are like this one. They make absolutely untold amounts of money in the underworld and they've long since paid for themselves (if they weren't pirated to begin with) so they're just abandoned and cast adrift. Dirtbags!

What an awesome story, kind of thing I love seeing on ATS and we need more of it, thanks very much for this one OP looks like a interesting rabbit hole to get into.

I wonder what has happened, seems really strange I would think that if it where pirates we would know, they usually hold crew and ship ransom. Seems like a really interesting mystery, tragic obviously though for the families of those missing sailors.

S&F

Ghost ride ya ship!

a reply to: Kandinsky

My guess is insurance fraud by the owner.

It's kinda crazy it's been missing for 9 years in quite a busy area for shipping and no one has even saw it? Shows how vast the ocean is even in busy areas.

Interesting find. I would go with illicit activities as well.

originally posted by: pavil
It's kinda crazy it's been missing for 9 years in quite a busy area for shipping and no one has even saw it? Shows how vast the ocean is even in busy areas.

That was my immediate thought as well. Unless it was put in a hanger for 9 years I can't imagine it being ignored or not seen by anyone. It will be interesting if any tests get done on it to see the sort of weather it has been in and the general state of it after all this time.

Dracula's on vacation.

Ok... that’s very strange

It’s listed as “active” but has been drifting the oceans for 9 years abandoned

Pretty sure it would have drifted up somewhere sooner

Was it being used to ship in sanctioned goods into North Korea? Or even nuclear materials?