Marine Log - January 2009 - (Page 2)

January 2009 Vol. 114 No. 1 John R. Snyder Publisher & Editor ISSN 08970491 MARINELOG USPS 576-910 PRESIDENT Arthur J. McGinnis, Jr. amcginnis@sbpub.com jsnyder@sbpub.com editorial PUBLISHER & EDITOR John R. Snyder SENIOR EDITORIAL CONSULTANT Nicholas Blenkey nblenkey@sbpub.com The Hebei Spirit Two: Something doesn’t add up ASSISTANT EDITOR Shirley Del Valle CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Nigel Kitchen CONTRIBUTING EDITOR William B. Ebersold MARKETING DIRECTOR Peter Sexton CREATIVE DIRECTOR Wendy Williams ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR Phil Desiere sdelvalle@sbpub.com nkitchen@msn.com wbeber@comcast.net psexton@sbpub-chicago.com wwilliams@sbpub.com pdesiere@sbpub.com S omething doesn’t add up in the Hebei Spirit case. Last month, the Hebei Spirit’s Captain Jasprit Chawla and Chief Officer Syam Chetan were sentenced to 1-1/2 years and eight months, respectively, by Korea’s Daejeon District Court, the Court of Appeal for violating marine law. The men had been found not guilty of the same charges by a lower court on June 24. The case has ignited universal outrage in the shipping world. The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), BIMCO, International Chamber of Shipping, INTERCARGO, INTERMANAGER, the Nautical Institute, and the Hong Kong Shipowners’ Association have all condemned the treatment and imprisonment of the two men. Some of the strongest words of condemnation came from the ship’s manager, V. Ships, which called the decision, “one of the most disgraceful examples of a miscarriage of justice in a ‘supposedly’ advanced nation state. For Capt Chawla and Chief Officer Chetan to be sentenced to prison terms and led from the court in handcuffs is a disgrace and insult to the whole shipping industry.” V. Ships said that the appeal case’s reliance on the findings of a report from the Korean Maritime Safety Tribunal (KMST) “resulted in technically flawed, unreliable and unjust evidence being submitted” to the court. Furthermore, V. Ships said that in submitting its report, the KMST demonstrated “both its incompetence and an obvious desire to find fault with the officers” and that the KMST did not comply with the IMO guidelines for consultation with other parties. As in previous high profile marine accident cases, national authorities are quick to rush to judgment and criminalize seafarers. Heck, it seems that gun-toting pirates are afforded fairer treatment than seafarers. In reviewing the incident, it is hard to figure out how the court could have found any fault with the actions of the captain or the chief officer. On December 7, 2007, a crane barge being towed by a tug broke free in gale force winds and rough seas and collided with the VLCC Hebei Spirit, which was at anchor. The collision with the crane barge, which is owned by Samsung Heavy Industries, punctured three of the five tanks aboard the Hebei Spirit, resulting in a spill of some 10,800 tonnes of oil. Obviously, the incident is charged with emotion and colored by politics. The oil spill is viewed as the worst in South Korea’s history, resulting in pollution affecting some of Korea’s most beautiful beaches, one of the largest wetlands in Asia and hundreds of sea farms. The Korean public is outraged. Hundreds of thousands of citizens volunteered in the spill clean up effort. However, cooler heads should prevail and overturn the appeal court’s decision. Captain Chawla and CO Chetan—“The Hebei Spirit Two”— should be set free. jsnyder@sbpub.com ART PRODUCTION MANAGER Todd Blanchard tblanchard@sbpub.com PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Mary Conyers-Brown NATIONAL SALES DIRECTOR Roland Espinosa mbrown@sbpub.com respinosa@sbpub.com INTERNATIONAL SALES MANAGER Donna Edwards dedwards@sbpub.com SALES MANAGER Jeff Sutley SALES REPRESENTATIVE -KOREA Young-Seoh Chinn CLASSIFIED SALES Diane Okon CONFERENCE DIRECTOR Jane Poterala CONFERENCE COORDINATOR Michelle M. Zolkos CONFERENCE ASSISTANT Latima Meynard jsutley@sbpub.com jesmedia@unitel.co.kr dokon@sbpub-chicago.com jpoterala@sbpub.com mzolkos@sbpub.com lmeynard@sbpub.com A SIMMONS-BOARDMAN PUBLICATION EDITORIAL AND BUSINESS OFFICES 345 Hudson Street New York, N.Y. 10014 TEL: (212) 620-7200 FAX: (212) 633-1165 website: www.marinelog.com e-mail: marinelog@sbpub.com CIRCULATION & SUBSCRIPTIONS: Call toll free (800) 895-4389, Monday-Friday 9 am—5 pm EST. 2 MARINE LOG JANUARY 2009 www.marinelog.com http://www.marinelog.com http://www.abb.com/turbocharging http://www.abb.com/turbocharging http://www.marinelog.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Marine Log - January 2009

Marine Log - January 2009 Contents Editorial Second Thoughts Update Inside Washington What's On Your Hull? That Sinking Feeling Newsmakers Tech News Contracts Wake Up Call From Mumbai Events Security Guide Vietnam Stretches its Portfolio ML Buyer's Guide ML Marketplace Marine Salvage

Marine Log - January 2009

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