‘Hijacked’ oil tanker was taken to port by its crew in dispute with owners

A oil tanker, which was thought to have been hijacked, has been found after being taken to port by its own crew in a dispute with owners. The Vier Harmoni, which was carrying 900,000 litres of diesel worth 1.57 million Malaysian ringgit ($392,314) has been located in the waters off Batam Island, Indonesia. It was taken there by its crew after being reported missing on Tuesday. Maritime officials said there had been no hijacking and an act of terrorism had also been ruled out.

We tried to contact the ship but it went unanswered. We believe the ship’s captain might have turned off its tracking system as we could not trace it on our radar.

Admiral Adon Shalan

The tanker vanished after leaving the Tanjung Pelepas port on the eastern coast of Peninsular Malaysia on Tuesday. Maritime officials tried to trace it but could not raise a response or locate it user radar. The MMEA’s southern regional chief Admiral Adon Shalan said there could have been a financial dispute within the company. The ship was registered in Batam but was being leased by a Malaysian company, officials added. Shipping data in Thomson Reuters Eikon suggests the ship’s transponder has been turned off since June 20.