Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr has ordered his coastguard to inspect dredging vessels operating in Manila Bay after a US-based maritime monitoring group alleged a Chinese ship had used different identities and flags while working in local waters, a tactic it claimed could skirt Philippine law.
On Tuesday, Marcos directed the coastguard to verify the registrations and identities of dredgers – large vessels that excavate and move seabed material – involved in reclamation projects within the bay, an area close to the Philippine Navy and coastguard headquarters and a few kilometres from the presidential palace.
Dredging is a key part of land reclamation projects that supply sand and fill for coastal developments, but such vessels are also closely scrutinised by maritime authorities because of their potential strategic and environmental impact.
“The Philippine Coast Guard is investigating 27 dredging vessels, 23 in Manila Bay and four in Zambales [a coastal province in western Luzon],” coastguard spokeswoman Captain Noemie Guirao-Cayabyab told This Week in Asia.
“The investigation will also include the possible changing of their identities in their Automatic Identification Systems [AIS].”
Marcos’ order followed a Monday report by Sealight, an American project which tracks maritime “grey zone” activities, that said one Chinese vessel had used numerous identities inside Philippine waters for more than two years.
Sealight said the vessel, Kang Ling 539, which signalled it was registered in Sierra Leone, also broadcast an AIS signal claiming to be Philippine-registered when it was inside Manila Bay, effectively claiming two registrations under the same name.
But as soon as it left the bay on Friday evening, it switched off the AIS signifying it was Philippine registered, and proceeded northwest to the coast off Zambales province, where it dredged the mouth of the Santo Tomas river. It then returned to Manila Bay where it resumed signalling its two registrations.
According to Sealight director Ray Powell, the Kang Ling 539 has broadcast “at least 30 identities” since arriving in the Philippines from China in 2023. It has also claimed to be registered under the flags of the Philippines, Sierra Leone, Panama and the Central African island of Sao Tome and Principe.
Calling attention to the alleged behaviour, Powell asked: “Why does a single ship need 30 identities?”
He said the ship was still registered in China as the He Xing 669 and “it is still on record as a ship owned, operated and managed by Jiangxi Zhongkuang Shipping Co”.
According to Powell in the Sealight report, the “costume changes” could be a way to evade Philippine law governing dredging activities.
“Philippine law treats dredging as a domestic shipping service when it moves sand between Philippine points, so dredgers must meet domestic rules,” he wrote.
“That means the operator must be at least 60 per cent Filipino-owned, the vessel must be Philippine-flagged and registered, and it must sail with a Filipino crew.”
He added that “foreign‑owned or -flagged dredgers cannot legally perform routine dredging and transport inside the Philippines unless they are reflagged, placed under a qualified domestic shipowner and crewed in line with these ownership and crewing requirements”.
In a letter to the Philippine coastguard on Tuesday, the owner of the Kang Ling 539, the Philippine company Golden Tiger Shipping Agencies Incorporated, said “allegations circulating online are inaccurate, speculative and unsupported by verified facts”.
Golden Tiger, which was formed in 2022, said the vessel was “legally imported into the Philippines in full compliance with applicable Philippine laws” and that the change of flag was “lawfully processed and approved through the proper regulatory channels”.
Claims suggesting intentional manipulation or deceptive changes in the vessel’s name or AIS data were “misleading and unsupported by technical or factual evidence”, the company said.
“Temporary discrepancies or historical variations in AIS records may occur due to system updates, hardware reconfiguration or signal glitches,” it added.
Responding to Golden Tiger’s letter, Powell said on social media on Wednesday that there was “no evidence” that technical malfunctions would cause a ship’s AIS transponder to “spontaneously manufacture and broadcast 30 different Maritime Mobile Service Identity numbers under six different flag states over a 20-month period”.
In his report, Powell also cited a November 2024 incident where Filipino coastguard personnel boarded and seized the Philippine-flagged Harvest 89 near the mouth of Manila Bay, and found “13 undocumented Chinese crewmen aboard along with a ‘People’s Liberation Army-like’ uniform”.
The ship, Powell said, had been registered as the Chinese-flagged Mao Hua 8 but was “back in operation the next month – presumably with a new crew – and continues to perform dredging operations to this day”.
Golden Tiger, however, said in its letter on Tuesday that all foreign crew members aboard the Kang Ling 539, including Chinese nationals, “hold valid visas, work permits and employment documentation”.
Asked if the dredging vessels the coastguard was inspecting had any Filipino crew on board, Cayabyab said no details could be disclosed as the investigation was ongoing.
She said the Kang Ling 539 “was previously apprehended for safety-related violations, for which appropriate enforcement actions were undertaken”.
While an inspection last year found deficiencies in “life-saving appliances on board the vessel”, it later complied with regulations and rectified the deficiencies, she told This Week in Asia.
According to Cayabyab, dredging vessels entering Manila Bay will “usually” be issued permits by the Maritime Industry Authority before engaging in related operations.
Cayabyab said the Philippine coastguard was expected to complete its investigation into the vessels within 24 hours, weather permitting, and would issue a statement then.