TS Line has made an announcement stating that the company has been actively coordinating with all relevant agencies to deal with the salvage of its vessel TS Taipei since it ran aground on March 10, in response to local media reports accusing the company of not handling the incident in a timely fashion.
TS Line said it contacted nearby ports including Taipei Port and Keelung Port for assistance within three hours after the ship lost power on March 10, however, the ports couldn’t send tugboats immediately due to rough sea conditions.
The company claimed that it held an emergency meeting with port authority and environment protection department on the day of the accident and all operations have been based on a cautious assessment of the conditions on site in order to minimize harm.
Wei Kuo-yen, head of the Environmental Protection Administration of Taiwan, announced his resignation at a government meeting yesterday after he was criticized for neglect of duty in handling the incident.
More than 450 people have been deployed to clean up the oil spill. TS Line told Splash on Wednesday that the cleanup would take another week to complete.
