Bulker Tong Cheng 301 Aground off Vietnam with 81 Tonnes of Fuel

The 124-meter general cargo ship Tong Cheng 301 ran aground on a sandy seabed roughly 150 meters off Sa Huynh in central Vietnam on the evening of November 9, carrying 81 tonnes of bunker and diesel fuel. All 14 crew members are safe. No oil leak has been detected.

The Quang Ngai Maritime Port Authority confirmed the grounding on Wednesday, five days after the incident and one day after it was discovered on the morning of November 10. The vessel, owned by Hong Kong-based Ocean Faith Shipping Co., Limited, was sailing in ballast — no cargo, no passengers — from the Thi Vai-Phu My industrial area near Ho Chi Minh City, which it left on November 6, bound for My Thuy International Port in Quang Tri Province.

What went wrong off Sa Huynh?

Strong winds and high waves hit the ship as it passed Sa Huynh. It drifted. Then it settled on sand about 150 meters from shore. The crew apparently rode out the night, and the grounding came to light the next morning.

The fuel inventory matters more than the ballast passage. The ship carries about 26 metric tons of diesel oil and 55 metric tons of fuel oil — a combined 81 tonnes sitting close to a coastline whose waters support local fishing communities around Sa Huynh, in Quang Ngai Province. So far, none of it has escaped.

What does this change for the salvage and the coast?

Weather is the working problem. Northeastern winds in the area are blowing at force 6-7, gusting to force 8-9, with waves of three to five meters — and thunderstorms can push them above five meters. Those conditions constrain any refloating attempt and raise the risk of the hull shifting on the sand.

The good news is mechanical. Le Van Luong, director of the Quang Ngai Maritime Port Authority, said the ship grounded on sand with no underwater rocks reported. No hull breaches have been detected. The vessel remains stationary.

"However, authorities and the captain remain in close contact to prepare for any worst-case scenario," Luong told Tuoi Tre (Youth) online newspaper on Wednesday.

The authority has instructed the owner and the captain to take four steps:

• Stabilize the vessel in its current position
• Close all fuel tank valves to cut spill risk
• Prepare an oil spill response plan
• Develop a refloating plan for when weather allows

The Sa Huynh Border Guard Station and other agencies are monitoring the ship and tracking crew safety alongside the port authority.

The commercial read

For Ocean Faith Shipping, the immediate costs are salvage planning and potential spill liability, not cargo claims — the ship was empty. A sand grounding without hull damage is close to the best-case scenario for a grounding; refloating a intact vessel off a soft seabed is a routine operation once seas drop below the force-6 threshold. The 81 tonnes of fuel aboard remain the environmental variable, and every day of force-8 gusts extends the window in which something can go wrong.

For operators running the Ho Chi Minh City–central Vietnam coastal lane, the incident is a reminder that the northeast monsoon season is now delivering exactly the wind fields — force 6-7 sustained, 8-9 in gusts — that pushed a 124-meter vessel off course within sight of shore.

The next concrete milestone is the refloating plan, which the owner must now develop for the port authority's review; until winds ease below storm-force gusts, the ship, its 14 crew and its 81 tonnes of fuel stay exactly where they are.