The first vessel to off-load oil from the Jubilee fields to the international market docked at the shores of Ghana Monday night and is currently expected at the FPSO. Kofi Adomah of Adom FM who has been on board the vessel reports that the Ghana Maritime Authority is carrying out an inspection before it goes to the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah. The vessel which is known as MT Spike is reported to be 249 metres long with all of its crew members from India. The Maritime Authority is undertaking the inspection to ascertain whether the vessel is sea worthy before it off loads oil from the Jubillee fields. Capt. William Esson-Thompson, the director in charge of Survey and Inspectorate Division of the Ghana Maritime Authority said the huge investment made in the oil sector must be safeguarded, adding “this whole operation is a very critical operation, so if you bring any rickety ship - and the possibility of fire, oil spillage, we have seen it happen in other places - then we have a big problem to clean our coast and all that after that spillage. So the Ghana Maritime Authority wants to ensure that whatever ship comes to work there is, we call it, [a] sea worthy-ship.” The captain of the vessel Hari Uni on his part expressed joy at being the first vessel to off-load crude from the Jubilee Fields. He said his team has a lot of experience in off-loading oil and are ready to carry out this duty without a hitch. According Kofi Adomah the vessel will off-load 86,000 tons of crude oil. Story by Derick Romeo Adogla/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana