MOL announced its opening of a permanent website (Mauritius Website) featuring the MOL Group’s activities to protect and restore the natural environment in the Republic of Mauritius.
MOL has been engaging in natural environmental protection and social contribution activities in Mauritius since the July 2020 grounding of Wakashio, which resulted in a serious oil spill.
In June 2021, it established the “MOL Charitable Trust” in Mauritius to promote sustainability measures, and since then has worked closely with local communities on a range of support programs.
And in November 2021 it established an authorized public trust called the “MOL Mauritius International Fund for Natural Environment Recovery and Sustainability” in Japan, supporting long-term and large-scale projects.
The new Mauritius Website outlines these two funds and the projects they support, and features the documentary video called “Mauritius Blue NOU AVEC ZOT – We’re with You,” which summarizes MOL’s initiatives in Mauritius after July 2020.
MOL will continue to engage in support measures that benefit local communities in Mauritius, and works to keep all stakeholders informed about its activities there
Recently, the Japan Transport Safety Board published its preliminary report on the MV Wakashio, saying that the vessel deviated from its normal route near Sumatra, Indonesia, before arriving in Mauritian waters.
In the preliminary report, the Japan Transport Safety Board indicates that the ship’s crew had “no detailed maritime chart when the vessel was approaching Mauritius”.
In addition, the Japanese authority indicated that “the captain instructed the crew members to approach the coast despite this absence of a detailed maritime map to be able to pick up mobile telephone signals.”
Namely, the captain of the Wakashio approved the decision to change course two days before they approached the island. In fact, the original plan was to remain approximately five nautical miles offshore, but the captain approved the course change knowing that the Wakashio did not have navigational charts for Mauritius.
Still doesn’t explain why the First Officer, who was navigating at the time, failed to notice a lighthouse, the lights of houses on shore and breakers on the reef* and simply kept going regardless. If they’d had even the IGN tourist map they’d have seen this was a disastrous course – all the worse for the east coast of Mauritius (subject to the prevailing south-easterlies) being the site of several high-profile groundings in recent years, eg Angel 1 and Benita.
* You can see the white surf line from the shore even at dusk – and the shore is a lot farther from the reef than Wakashio was.