Ghost Ship Mystery: Abandoned Oil Tanker, Tamaya 1, Runs Aground in Liberia

I was surprised not to see this already but a search turned up zilch. Who doesn't love stories about ghost ships?

So last week, an abandoned 64 meter (210 foot) Panama-flagged oil tanker, the Tamaya 1 (possibly named for Shinto altars dedicated to dead ancestors), appears to have drifted to the Liberian coast and run aground on a beach near Robertsport — which despite what the name seems to infer, does not have a seaport. It sat for two days before authorities investigated. They found no sign of the crew or the lifeboats. According to the article below, the last known position of the tanker was somewhere between Gambia and Senegal, far north of Liberia on the west coast of Africa.

Guardian - Oil tanker washes up on Liberia beach with no crew or lifeboats

The Liberia national police and the Liberia maritime authority did not immediately respond to a call for comment. “Our best bet is that the vessel’s owner might have gone broke and had no money to pay crew members,” a source at the nation’s port authority told the Liberian Daily Observer. “And therefore, the crew abandoned the ship.”

After several days beached on the shoreline, the ship was reportedly looted and vandalized and speculation was rife that pirates or a fire had caused the crew to abandon the ship. Since investigation began, police have tried to keep civilians away from the ship. Although tankers were once prized by pirates off the African coasts, the long decline in oil prices combined with a sustained military campaign have reduced hijackings. Off west Africa, piracy has been largely held south of Liberia, in the waters off Nigeria and Ghana.

I've read three articles about this and none of them mention whether or not the tanker is loaded with oil or not. A little more information from the site, Maritime Executive:

Farbric Radio reports that fishermen had spotted the vessel near the town of Taililor on Monday, and had not seen either crew or lifeboats aboard; the station said that she may have already been abandoned at the time she went aground.

The multi-agency investigation into the cause of the grounding continues, said police spokesman Sam Collins. In an entry updated in January 2016, Equasis lists her beneficial owner as Tamaya Shipping Offshore of Beirut, Lebanon, and her manager as SODATRA (Societe Dakaroise de Transit) of Dakar, Senegal. Her record of classification status on the registry dates to 2009, when it was listed as "Withdrawn" for reason of an overdue survey. Representatives for SODATRA and for Tamaya Shipping could not immediately be reached for comment.

Let the speculation begin!

a reply to: theantediluvian

I've read three articles about this and none of them mention whether or not the tanker is loaded with oil or not.

Just by looking at the picture I can tell it isn't loaded with oil. If it was the weight would have driven it down into the sand.

Interesting!

Hijacked, robbed by pirates or alphabet agency? Dumped the bodies (crew).. load the oil on another vessel?

Haha I know it's crazy, but a boat of oil in today's world is a gold mine.

Most likely, as the article quotes unpaid sailors dipped and abandoned

a reply to: theantediluvian

Here's a little more info from MarineTraffic

The Ministry of National Defense has now been onboard the 64 m long vessel and found much of the interior including the bridge and all documents were gutted by fire.
One of the two liferafts that the ship has was missing, adding to speculation that the ship’s owner abandoned the old unprofitable ship. Adding to this theory, the tanker’s classification was withdrawn as it was overdue for a survey.

I'm betting on it being abandoned by the owners due to the costs of upkeep.

a reply to: Grimpachi

Doh. Yes, that should have been obvious from the picture!

What about the captain? Why would he have abandoned with the crew? Wouldn't the the captain just go home or something?

ETA: Nm I see the post above. That's a hell of a loss.


ETA further: The owner, not necessarily the captain......ugh shutting up now.

Isn't there some maritime law about claiming a vessel for scrap value? Not sure how it works when the ship runs aground, but that's a lot of steel.

a reply to: theantediluvian

I'm not going to say it was aliens


















but, aliens!

a reply to: quercusrex

Why not just sell it or scrap it then? It's got to be worth more than they could possibly owe the crew in back pay.

a reply to: theantediluvian

I don't have an answer for you on that, let me do a little more reading.

a reply to: Grimpachi

That was my first question: empty or loaded?

Surely someone would have noted a delay if they had offloaded it in transit?

I'm not familiar with the type of lifeboats these ships would have, but wouldn't the crew have turned up by now somewhere?

Crew goes home, company doesn't care then no one worries about a non missing crew.

a reply to: chiefsmom

If they were intentionally ditching the boat, was it launched full or empty is the first thing. If it's launched empty, how many crew were with it?

Is it possible there is some kind of bribe involved to the crew that left it to NOT say anything and just disappear?

a reply to: theantediluvian

Apparently the depreciation rate on older vessels vs cost of upkeep is such that some companies have nothing to gain by scrapping them.

Below is a list of depreciation policies adopted by certain listed tanker companies, for their tanker vessels (not FSO, FPSO, LNG vessels etc):


Useful life/Salvage value

Euronav: 20 years/0

Genmar: 25 years/$175 per lwt

Frontline: 25 years/$271 per lwt

Navios Acq:25 years/$275 per lwt

Tsakos: 25 years/$300 per lwt

OSG: 25 years/$300 per lwt

Teekay Corp: 25 years/NA
NAT: 25 years/$4 million per vessel (all double hull Suezmaxes, say 14,000 lwt)
Sovcomflot: 25 years/$490 per lwt

I guess it has something to do with the profit/loss statements. I'm learning more as this goes along though.

TCA's depreciation expense will be $30m annually over 20 years, reducing the book value of its vessels to zero. TCB's depreciation expense will be $20m annually over 25 years, reducing book value to $100m, which may or not be the scrap value at the time. All other things being equal, the difference is a $10m annual hit to the income statement of TCA

source

edit on 10-5-2016 by quercusrex because: fix link

edit on 10-5-2016 by quercusrex because: (no reason given)

a reply to: chiefsmom

Or are they bobbing around on the ocean? there was a fire so either deliberately set and the crew ditched with a destination in mind..or fire started by accident and they ditched in the middle of no where..if there was a fire on the bridge could the communications get knocked out. Weird and it sounds like the ship was not supposed to be at sea.

a reply to: vonclod

That's what I was wondering. I didn't know if big ships like this have lifeboats with small motors? Did another ship happen by and rescue them?

Are they stranded somewhere?

First thing to look at is the ships radio and see if it is set to a emergency frequency?. Then see if a SOS MAYDAY was made?.

Then start to look at possible reasons to what could have happened and where, maybe a insurance job?.. Who knows




RA

Long time ago I worked,on a construction job on a warf where a vessel was tied up. I got talking with a bloke who was also looking at the boat too and after talking for a while he told me had been a first mote such ships for many years and related this story.

He told me that sometimes a captain will get paid to sink a ship in a deep trench. The bloke said that to make it look right the captain had to make sure some members of the crew were still on board when it down.

it would seem that his did not happen to this vessel.

originally posted by: theantediluvian
a reply to: quercusrex

Why not just sell it or scrap it then? It's got to be worth more than they could possibly owe the crew in back pay.

Often these ships have so many environmental hazards that scrapping them costs money. You see it whenever people get upset that the US has sold a warship to a scrapping company for a penny. Just dumping them and hoping nobody finds it seems to be a alternative people choose.