Venepandi Breaking News No.78: Navigation Hazard in Venezuelan Seas

Location Venezuela. Green pin on the map.

The UK Club would like to draw Members' attention to the latest alert from our local correspondent Venepandi C.A related to the navigational hazard in the internal waters of the Venezuelan Caribbean Sea, specifically to the vessels that are heading towards the ports of eastern Venezuela. 

There is a large rock in the Latitude and Longitude (10°16.2'N -64°33.6'W) at a distance of 0.55 nautical miles from "Isla de Monos" and 2.17 nautical miles from the port of Guanta, that according to the Masters does not appear on the ENC Nautical charts, and there have already been several incidents in this regard since the Masters report that the rock does not appear on their ECDIS equipment on board. 

We currently have the case of a Liberian-flagged vessel, in which the master reported that the rock did not appear in his ENCs and therefore she ran aground, causing serious damage to her hull and her detention for environmental damage since the rock is located within an area called "Mochima National Park" catalogued as country's environmental heritage. 

We are currently investigating if there is any ENC chart that is including said bulge in the Venezuelan maritime waters, the result of which will be notified in another bulletin. 

If you want further information, please do not hesitate to contact us at any time. 

VENEPANDI, C.A
Loss Prevention Team

Petar Modev

Head of Ship Inspections

Date01/09/2022

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