Dirty Korean bulker allowed back into New Zealand
The DL Marigold, a bulk carrier controlled by South Korea’s Dae Lim, is back in New Zealand after an embarrassing expulsion earlier this month. The ship was forced to leave New Zealand waters on March 6 when divers at the port of Tauranga found extreme fouling on the ship’s hull. It made for Fiji where it planned to get the hull cleaned before returning to finish offloading its shipment of palm kernel. However, Fijian authorities also barred the ship entry.
Dae Lim then employed New Zealand divers to clean the hull in international waters. The DL Marigold returned to Tauranga yesterday.
Ship operators have been warned that new biosecurity rules coming into effect in New Zealand in May 2018 will make vessel calls there even more tricky.
That will not have been cheap.