China MSA issues warning of unidentified underwater objects off Fuzhou and Ningde ports

Club correspondent Oasis P&I has released the below circular number 2209 issuing guidance on the new notice of correction no. 32/22 issued by China MSA and the navigation warning released on 10 September 2022 by Fujian MSA.

On 10 Oct 2022, China MSA issued No. 41 Notice of Correction to Channel Charts of Chinese Coastal Ports, in which they requested ships to remark the warning statement “Unidentified underwater objects were found in northeastern waters of Heiyan Island, Sansha'ao, Lianjiang, Taiwan Strait, within a radius of one nautical mile from the center of the circle: 26°23’39”, 120°05’42E” on the 3 relevant nautical charts.

Before the issuance of the above Navigation Warning No. 32/22, 3 major grounding accidents occurred in this area between 2020 and 2022 at the following positions:

1. 26°23.7N, 120°5.7E

2. 26°23.8 N, 120°5.7E

3. 26°23.76 N, 120°5.58E

The draught of those ships at the time of grounding varied between 7 and 15 meters.

The identity of those underwater objects is currently unknown, and they are not shown on the present public nautical charts.

We recommend that the ships which plan to call Fuzhou Port (including Luoyuan Port, Kemen Port, Huadong Shipyard) and Ningde Port (including Zhangwan Terminal, Datang Powplant Terminal, Dingxin Terminal, etc) shall note this warning and navigate with extreme caution.

Ships should continue to strictly follow the directives issued by local authorities, notice to mariners and navigation warnings when navigating and use this information as a guidance for their planning purpose.

The club would like to thank Oasis P&I for this information.

Category: Loss Prevention