TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A cargo ship which ran aground on the coast of Taitung County last year will be auctioned off next month because the Chinese owner has not expressed any interest in recovering it, reports said Friday (Aug. 4).
The Uniprofit, registered in Belize, ended up on the rocks near the Fugang fishing port in March 2022. The ship was towed to Kaohsiung City, where the 16 crew members spent more than six months on board before being allowed to leave Taiwan.
The owners of the cargo paid a NT$74-million (US$2.33 million) share of the towing fees and recovered the freight, but the port authorities were still owed NT$8 million, Radio Taiwan International (RTI) reported. As the Chinese owner had not contacted Taiwan after attending the first meeting about the ship’s fate, the port authorities decided to hand the case over to the Ministry of Justice Administrative Enforcement Agency.
The agency’s Kaohsiung branch said it would hold an auction for the ship on Sept. 5, with the starting bid set at NT$66 million. Interested parties were asked to contact the branch by Aug. 25. The Uniprofit was built in Japan in 1995 and weighs 6,653 tons, the agency said.