Daewoo Shipbuilding to Restructure Following Dramatic Q2 Loss
Firm to sell non-core assets, exit from non-essential businesses; Daewoo reported $2.6 bln operating loss in Q2. South Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co Ltd said on Monday it would sell non-core assets, and shut down or exit non-essential units as part of restructuring after a multi-billion dollar loss in the April-June quarter. Daewoo Shipbuilding late last month reported a provisional second-quarter operating loss of 3.03 trillion won ($2.61 billion), citing construction delays on offshore projects such as oil and gas rigs. The high-end offshore plant business has been loss-making for the world's three biggest shipyards…
Korea Ferry Disaster Points Up Cronyism
A culture of cosy personal ties that can blur the lines between businesses and those regulating them, of profit over safety, and soft courts is in focus as South Korea demands answers over the sinking of a ferry with the loss of more than 300 lives, mainly high school students. Prosecutors are investigating two shipping trade organisations responsible for vessel safety checks and for certifying ships that operate in domestic waters. Two officials at the Korea Shipping Association (KSA) have been arrested on charges of obstructing justice for destroying documents related to a probe into lobbying government officials. A third official was arrested for alleged influence peddling and embezzlement. Prosecutors are also investigating Korean Register (KR), which tests and certifies ships.
Ill-fated Korean Ferry May Have Been Going too Fast
It should have been plain sailing for a South Korean ferry carrying hundreds of children and their teachers on an outing to the sub-tropical island of Jeju, an annual trip for Danwon High School. The Sewol had 476 passengers and crew on board, including 339 children and teachers. It had an experienced captain, was navigating well-known waters and had passed its annual inspections since it was bought second hand in 2012 by Chonghaejin Marine Co. Ltd. But prosecutors believe the vessel capsized after turning at too high a speed. Sixty-four people are known to have died and 238 are missing, presumed dead, mostly children. In an arrest document…
Crewman Claims Ferry Captain "Rushed Back To Bridge"
The captain of a South Korean ferry that capsized two days ago rushed back to the bridge after it started listing severely and tried in vain to right the vessel, one of the helmsmen on the ship said on Friday. A junior officer was steering the Sewol ferry when it capsized on Wednesday, leaving 28 people officially declared dead and 268 missing, almost all of them high school students. Divers are fighting strong tides and murky waters to get to the sunken ship but hopes are fading of finding any of the missing alive. "I'm not sure where the captain was before the accident. However right after the accident, I saw him rushing back into the steering house ahead of me," said Oh Young-seok, one of the helmsmen on the ship who was off duty and resting at the time.
Vice-Principal Of S.Korea School In Ferry Disaster Commits Suicide
The vice-principal of a South Korean high school who accompanied hundreds of pupils on a ferry that capsized has committed suicide, police said on Friday, as hopes faded of finding any of the 268 missing alive. The Sewol, carrying 475 passengers and crew, capsized on Wednesday on a journey from the port of Incheon to the southern holiday island of Jeju. Kang Min-gyu, 52, had been missing since Thursday. He appeared to have hanged himself with his belt from a tree outside a gym in the port city of Jindo where relatives of the people missing on the ship, mostly children from the school, were gathered. Police said Kang did not leave a suicide note and that they started looking for him after he was reported missing by a fellow teacher. He was rescued from the ferry after it capsized.
