Tanker GRAND WINNER 5 (IMO 9906714) departed the South Korean port of Yeosu on 17th of May with around 50 ML of fuel, scheduled to arrive 2nd June.
This website monitors tanker arrivals on a daily basis
https://crudeoilpeak.info/tankers-arriving-and-departing-in-sydney
Fig 1: GRAND WINNER 5 waiting offshore north of Wollongong.
Marine Traffic captured 16 Jun 20:32
This tanker attracted attention after 2 weeks not being able to discharge its fuel in Botany Bay, an unusually long period of waiting.
Finally, on Sunday 21 June around lunch time when this website updated its tanker list, GRAND WINNER 5 moved into Sydney Harbour ……
Fig 2: GRAND WINNER 5 in Sydney Harbour near Shark Beach
…but stopped for refueling from oiler ICS ALLEGIANCE which is usually berthed at Gore Bay.
Fig 3: GRAND WINNER 5 being refuelled in the Middle of the Sydney Harbour starting at 1 pm
Apparently, this tanker was running out of bunker fuel to run its engines and power all vital on-board machinery. This must have been an interesting sight by passengers in Manly ferries passing by.
Note that during refuelling the tanker set its destination to AU SYD (Gore Bay) with arrival on 21 June 11 am.
But when refueling ended shortly before 5 pm, GRAND WINNER 5 did not proceed to Gore Bay but returned to its waiting position between Botany Bay and Wollongong where it is still drifting as of writing this post.
Fig 4: Table showing berthing schedules in Sydney with offshore anchorage
GRAND WINNER 5 beats them all. Next was GOLDEN SAGITTARIUS with 6 days
Question: was GRAND WINNER 5 a failed Export Finance Australia’s supported fuel deal?
