VietNamNet Bridge – The Philippines navy on February 23 seized a Vietnamese ship offshore the island of Pata suspected of illegally transporting 116,000 bags of rice, according to the Inquirer.

However, Do Ngoc Binh, deputy general director of Binh Minh JSC, told a local newspaper that the ship carried rice legally and the owner of the rice batch must be accountable to the authorities in the Philippines.

“I confirm that Binh Minh has legal papers on maritime transport activities and the 380,000 tons of cargo shipped by An Bien 89 is legal,” Binh said.

On February 5, after receiving rice from My Thoi Port in An Giang Province (Vietnam), the ship carried rice to the Philippines under a charter contract. On February 23, the ship arrived at the anchorage area of Sulu Port to unload cargo. It was inspected by the local navy.

“Our company only transported the cargo. The cargo import procedures must be performed by the cargo owner,” he said.

Binh confirmed that the information about the arrest of 16 crew members is incorrect. The vessel’s captain Nguyen Van Loi called home to inform that the ship was inspected by the Filipino navy and asked to leave the anchor area in the port of Sulu at 3.25am on February 23.

He said the authorities in the Philippines asked the crew to stopped moving rice to three small boats in the anchorage area. After the inspection, the Vietnamese ship was asked to move to the port of Sangbuaaga for investigation. The crew members are still living and working aboard.

Binh also rejected the information that the local authorities seized 12 military guns on the ship. “An Bien 89 is a civilian ship specialized in cargo transportation within Southeast Asia, it does not have weapons. According to our information, the weapons were collected from two of the three ships of the Filipino rice buyer,” he added.

An Bien 89 was built and put into use in 2007 under the ownership of the Financial Leasing Company 1 (Bank for Agriculture and Development of Vietnam). The ship was then handed over to the Binh Minh JSC in the same year. The 3,960 tonnage vessel often handles cargo contracts from Vietnam to the Philippines.

VNE