CONTAINER SHIP YM ETERNITY ARRESTED

Container ship YM Eternity arrested over unpaid debt owed to AMSA for container recovery operation

A Yang Ming-owned container ship was arrested in Sydney on Sunday after the Taiwanese company failed to pay a $3 million bill for the recovery of containers lost off the Hunter coast.

The Federal Court Admiralty Marshall arrested the YM Eternity - the YM Efficiency's sister ship - about 6.50am in Port Botany.

The arrest came after the Australian Maritime Safety Authority petitioned the Federal Court to recover the outstanding debt.

It is not the first time the YM Eternity has been subject to an arrest at the port.

The ship was detained by AMSA on July 12 last year for the same systemic failure to safely stow and secure cargo that led to the YM Efficiency container spill a year earlier.

AMSA said on Sunday Yang Ming was refusing to pay for the clean-up of the remaining pollution, including the containers and their contents located on the seafloor near Newcastle.

Sixty containers have been identified using remotely operated underwater vehicles. A further 16 are yet to be found and five were recovered shortly after the spill.

AMSA awarded Ardent Oceania a contract to recover the 60 identified containers in December. The contract is valued at about $15 million and work is expected to begin in March.