Jeju Island News

For Lee Mi-kyung, whose son was one of the 250 children who died in South Korea's Sewol ferry disaster 10 years ago, coping with the grief and anger has been incredibly hard. She works through her pain on stage."I will no longer hide in darkness, nor be defeated by sorrow, nor cry in despair," Lee, 58, declares in a play in which seven mothers of children who died in the tragedy portray their journey of mourning.The play is one of five that Lee and other mothers have performed over the past eight years…

Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) has claimed an industry first with the verification of its autonomous navigation technology on a container ship sailing between South Korea and Taiwan.The company installed its remote autonomous navigation system (SAS) and smart ship system (SVESSEL) on a 15,000 TEU class large container ship built at its Geoje shipyard. Fom June 26 to July 1, the vessel departed from Geoje and passed Jeju Island to Taiwan, demonstrating its autonomous navigation technology by operating about 1…

Two people died and nine were missing after a cargo ship sank off southwestern Japan early on Wednesday amid fierce winter winds, the coast guard said, as it continued to search for survivors.Six people who were rescued remained unconscious, while five had revived as of 8:30 p.m. local time (1130 GMT), the Japan Coast Guard said, partly citing information from its South Korean counterpart.The 6,651-tonne Hong Kong-registered Jintian - which had 22 crew on board who were Chinese or Myanmar nationals according to media reports - issued a distress call late on Tuesday…

South Korea issued weather advisories and raised its typhoon alert level on Monday as typhoon Hinnamnor neared, with heavy rain and strong wind already lashing southern parts of the country.The typhoon, travelling northward at a speed of 19 km per hour (12 mph), is expected to land 90 kilometres southwest of the port city Busan early on Tuesday, after reaching waters off Jeju Island around Monday midnight."Very strong winds and heavy rains are expected across the country through to Tuesday due to the typhoon…

Taiwan has recovered two bodies after a ship carrying six South Koreans went missing in the Taiwan Strait, and search and rescue operations are underway, the Taiwanese and South Korean governments said on Friday.Taiwan authorities have said they received distress signals from the Kyoto 1 at around 9:50 a.m. (0050 GMT) on Thursday from a location about 18 miles (29 km) west of the island, the foreign ministry in Seoul said, adding that all six people aboard were South Korean nationals.The Sierra Leone-flagged, 322-ton ship was on its way to Indonesia's Batam port from the South Korean city of Busan while towing the Kyoto 2 tender vessel…

South Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Mipo Dockyard (HMD) recently held a sail-off ceremony in Ulsan for the delivery of the 27,000 gross tonnage car ferry Queen Jenuvia to Sea World Express Ferry, the largest domestic car ferry operator.The ferry with maximum speed of 21.8 knots and capable of accommodating 1,284 passengers, 478 cars and 88 trucks (25 ton) is scheduled to provide the service between Mokpo and Jeju island from end of this month.The vessel, measuring 170m in length…

Japan sees little chance of the oil spill from a stricken Iranian tanker that sank on Sunday in the East China Sea reaching its shores, an official at the nation’s environment ministry said on Tuesday. The large tanker Sanchi (IMO:9356608) sank in the worst oil ship disaster in decades and produced a large oil slick, Chinese media and Japanese authorities said on Monday, as worries grew over damage to the marine ecosystem. The vessel’s crew of 30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis are all believed to have perished in the incident.

Across late October and early November, Royal Australian Navy frigates HMA Ships Melbourne and Parramatta visited the Republic of Korea for the biennial maritime anti-submarine warfare exercise HAEDOLI WALLABY. Arriving alongside in Busan, Australian personnel and their Korean Navy counterparts commenced the harbour phase of the exercise, enhancing mutual understanding and cooperation through a series of table-top briefings, damage control demonstrations, practical scenarios and a game of soccer. Marking the exercise opening, the Commodore Warfare, Commodore Ivan Ingham, highlighted how the exercise reinforces the importance Australia places on strengthening strategic dialogue and training, as well as capability and defence materiel cooperation with its North Asia partner.

Cruise holidays. Despite the now mundane miracle of aviation travel, Earth's deep oceans and seas still beckon to millions of holidaymakers year on year. Or, if perhaps not the water herself, then the concomitant aspects of contemporary cruise travel. A number of days if not weeks aboard a gargantuan, luxury-focused ship, which is replete from fore to aft with swimming pools, cafes, bars, restaurants, libraries, retail departments, casinos…did we mention bars, too? Magnificent.

South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) has won a $100 million order to build two liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers for Korea Line, reports Yohnap. Korea Gas Corp. (KOGAS) has chartered Korea Line to transport LNG from Tongyeong, South Gyeongsang Province (mainland) to Jeju Island for 20 years. Under the deal with Korea Line, SHI will build the ships by December 2019, the company said. One of the two vessels would have LNG bunkering capability. The ships, which can carry up to 7,500 cubic meters of LNG each, will be deployed to transport LNG between local ports, it added. The shipyard would be building expertise in the home-grown containment system, small-scale LNG carriers and LNG bunkering vessels through the order, it said.

Training for oil pollution preparedness, response and cooperation (OPRC) is underway in Jeju Island, Republic of Korea (7-11 November). On completion of the course, Government officials from seven Southeast Asian countries  (Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Timor‑Leste) will play a significant role in advancing their respective countries’ OPRC capability, as well as regional and international cooperation in the case of major oil spills. The course includes a focus on the OPRC capacity in the Republic of Korea as an example of the level of oil spill preparedness and response in developed countries. The event is organized by International Maritime Organization (IMO)   and the Korea Marine Environment Management Corporation (KOEM)…

London Offshore Consultants (LOC) has clinched its first ever windfarm project work in the Asia Pacific region. LOC in Korea has been jointly appointed by reinsurers Swiss Re and Korean Re as the marine warranty surveying service provider for the Tamra Wind Farm project. This is the first offshore wind farm project in Korea located off the coast of Jeju Island about 0.5 – 1.0km from the shore. “We are delighted to have a chance to work closely withTamra Offshore Wind Power Co., Ltd., a local developer which is owned by Korea South East Power Co., Ltd., and the respected local manufacturer of wind turbine generators, Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co., Ltd.,” said Jonathan Walker, Regional Director of LOC.

Asia's cruise industry is growing at a record pace and shows no signs of slowing down, according to the latest 2016 Asia Cruise Trends study from Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA). Asian source markets experienced the most growth year over year in ocean cruise passengers with an impressive 24 percent increase from 2014 to 2015 and a total of 2.08 million passengers in 2015, the study found. Asian cruise deployment, capacity and destinations have also shown remarkable growth.

South Korea will host a six-nation submarine exercise in its southern seas later in the month, Yonhap quoted the Navy as saying. The Pacific Reach 2016, involving the United States, Japan, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea will kick off on May 25 for a 10-day run in the waters off South Korea's naval port city of Jinhae on the southeastern edge of the Korean Peninsula as well as around Jeju Island, the Navy said. Another 12 foreign countries, including China and Russia, will join as observers, the Navy said. The focus of the exercise is on improving the participating countries' interoperability in submarine rescue operations involving the deployment of deep-submergence rescue vehicles and pressurized rescue modules.

All good things come in threes as Damen delivers the third vessel of the year, from the Damen Fast Ferry (DFFe) series to South Korean operators. Having already delivered the SeaStar 5 to existing customer Seaspovill earlier this year, two additional DFFe deliveries to new customers highlight the success of the series as well as Damen's broad portfolio directly available from stock. In May 2015, operator Daezer Shipping took delivery of a DFFe 4212 named ‘Sunrise’ from Damen Shipyards Singapore (DSSi). Delivered within three months of ordering, the vessel is powered by four MTU main engines (16V2000 M72) reaching a speed of over 40 knots. The Sunrise is currently operating a route of very popular tourist destinations on Koreas East-coast from the island of Ulleung to Dokdo.

A new system has been developed by South Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) to help better manage sea trial schedules for vessels built at its Ulsan yard. The new Sea Weather Forecasting System, developed by HHI in collaboration with Korea Institute of Ocean Science & Technology (KIOST), analyzes sea weather information such as wave height, wind speed and current patterns on an hourly basis in seven offshore areas including Ulsan, Gunsan and Jeju Island to manage the shipbuilder’s sea trials schedules up to 72 hours in advance.

Students testify no help came from crew; Coastguard rescuers were passive, only pulling passengers out. Crew in a state of panic, witness says. Six teenagers who survived South Korea's worst maritime disaster in 44 years told on Monday how classmates helped them float free as water flooded their cabins despite crew instructions to stay put even as their ferry sank, killing more than 300 people. The teenagers, whose names were withheld to protect their privacy, were giving testimony at the trial of 15 crew members, who face charges ranging from homicide to negligence for abandoning the sinking ship. "We were waiting and, when the water started coming in, the class rep told everyone to put on the life vests ...

The operator of the South Korean ferry that capsized and sank this month with the loss of about 300 lives was apparently being squeezed by competition from budget airlines and had to increasingly rely on its cargo business. The Sewol ferry sank on a routine voyage south from the port of Incheon to the holiday island of Jeju on April 16. Investigators have not determined the cause of the accident but media has reported that the ship was overloaded with cargo and it may have been poorly stowed. The ship was carrying 476 passengers and crew and had a capacity for 956. The Korean Register of Shipping, which tested and certified the Sewol, stipulated that it should be loaded with no more than 1,070 tonnes of cargo and passengers combined. It is not clear how much cargo it was carrying.

South Korean coastguards and navy divers resumed their search on Thursday for nearly 280 people still missing after a ferry capsized in what could be the country's worst maritime disaster in over 20 years. They will also be seeking answers to many unanswered questions surrounding Wednesday's accident, notably what caused the Sewol vessel to list and then flip over entirely, leaving only a small section of its hull above water. Rescue efforts on Thursday could be be hampered by difficult weather conditions, however, amid forecasts of rain, strong winds and fog.

South Korean coastguards and navy divers resumed their search on Thursday for nearly 280 people still missing after a ferry capsized in what could be the country's worst maritime disaster in over 20 years. They will also be seeking answers to many unanswered questions surrounding Wednesday's accident, notably what caused the Sewol vessel to list and then flip over entirely, leaving only a small section of its hull above water. Rescue efforts on Thursday could be be hampered by difficult weather conditions, however, amid forecasts of rain, strong winds and fog. Of 462 passengers on board the ferry when it set sail from the port of Incheon late on Tuesday, 179 have been rescued and six people are known to have died.

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.

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.

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…