A British built fishing vessel which ended her years in black events was the 1975 built TOK TOK.
She was originally the Petershead Tynedraft 86 Class Fishing Vessel GOLDEN DAWN bearing fishing matricola PD 211 and later while she was delivered to Maltese owners she was flying Irish (IRL) Flag and with matricola as BS 78. She was 32.31 metres long (loa) with 6.86 metres beam and 3.66 metres as maximum draught. Her GRT was 196 tons. More details and article published yesterday Monday 13th September – https://maltashipnews.com/2021/09/13/maltese-fishing-vessels-1975-built-golden-dawn/
After she was caught in ILLegal Fuel and cigarettes smuggling of which she was confiscated and detained she was sold in December, 2015 and renamed GRAIN M and homeported at Lome with Togo (TGO) flag with call sign as 5VDR7 and MMSI – 671658000 wearing a black/white hull.
On Tuesday 26th April, 2016 she had a mechanical failure while in international waters and she was towed back to Grand Harbour, Malta by the 2005 built offshore tug/supply ship NOR STAR which left Valletta from Boiler Wharf.
Upon her arrival at 1540 hrs GRAIN M was handed over to local tug LIENI who towed her inside.
On completion of NOR STAR entry it was GRAIN M turn to enter
On Thursday 26th October, 2017 GRAIN M was intercepted by V.1102 and G.78 GdiF BARLETTA of Guardia Di Finanza (GdiF) trafficking Diesel Oil between Libya and Sicily with 5 Indonesian crew members. After she was escorted to Syracuse Port Customs boarded her and found an enormous quantity of energy product, such as fuel , dangerously crammed inside 3 conventional tanks, positioned in the master area of the boat and inside a large tank, handcrafted in the bilge area, under the waterline of the vessel, for a quantity of about 100,000 kilograms.
On Sunday 4th March, 2018 she was spotted berthed at Augusta Commercial Port.
During August 2018 she was renamed as TOK TOK homeported in Apia flying a Samoa Flag by Ranid Shipping Ltd, Panama and she was seen anchored at Hurd Bank Area, offshore Malta on the 21st September as per below images –
On Friday 28th December, 2018 due to main engine failure she called at the port of Neapolis , Greece . The ship was not listed in THETIS, probably because the vessel was never inspected or called at one of the Paris MoU ports before. After the correspondence by e-mail with EMSA, the vessel was inserted in THETIS and it appeared as a ‘’unknown ship’’ with Priority I (PI) and was therefore eligible for inspection.
Early in the morning, on the same day, the PSCO visited the vessel, berthed on her starboard side and before embarking, the PSCO did the appropriate check of the external condition of the hull, the draft marks and the other basic and unique characteristics of the vessel such as her name, port of registry and IMO number. The external condition of the vessel was extremely degraded.
In general, during a more detailed (MD) inspection forty five (45) deficiencies were found, which were considered as clear grounds for detention. After the completion of the inspection, late in the evening, a detention order was issued and all the responsible parties were informed accordingly.
After approximately 50 days under detention, the vessel still remained berthed in the port of Neapolis since 19th February 2019. As it turned out, all the certificates of seaworthiness issued by the R.O. (Acsent Naval), on behalf of the flag administration of the ship (Samoa), were found invalid as the Certificate of Registry was falsified.
Major modifications and alterations of the ship, with regard of the vessel’s mentioned Stability booklet, particularly were found on new bulkheads, oil and ballast tanks, stinger plates, etc. The Flag Administration and the R.O. (acting on behalf of the Flag Administration) were requested to verify that the general structural strength of the ship was adequate for the ship to operate, including the loading and unloading of the new tanks. According to the only plan, which was found on board, the vessel was described as a fishing vessel with one cargo hold and one compartment with freezers, as shown below
But the actual condition was found as follows:
During March, 2019 she was renamed OSTERIA 1 with Togo (TGO) Flag and in May 2020 there were no reports about her.
Watermarked Photos are by Capt. Lawrence Dalli otherwise stated. NO PHOTOS can be used or manipulated without our permission. © All rights reserved. Malta Ship Photos & Action Photos – www.maltashipphotos.com
Published – Tuesday 14th September, 2021
