Hebei Spirit News

According to the latest statistics, over 25 percent of people will experience a mental health problem at some point in their lives and for those working offshore, this figure is significantly and potentially dangerously higher. What’s more, the problem’s growing. So, what’s causing the rise of mental health problems within our industry and why are seafarers more likely to suffer from these issues than those working on land? Most importantly, what can be done to solve the problem and establish a happier, healthier and safer workforce on the 51,000+ merchant ships that sail our seas?

InterManager, the international trade association for the ship management industry, has boosted its membership with several new members joining its ranks during the first quarter of this year. Full members joining include ship management company Nigeria LNG and crew manager Nedcon. They are joined by Associate members KVH, Cubisol, Jadran Pismo and Stark Moore Macmillan. Speaking as the InterManager Executive Committee Meeting in Athens today (June 7) InterManager President Alastair Evitt said: “I am pleased to report that InterManager is increasingly receiving applications for membership from a range of shipmanagement and related maritime businesses.

INTERTANKO launches PhD Fellowship in Marine Pollution Law at World Maritime University. INTERTANKO is to fund a three-year PhD study into the emerging law and policy on criminal liability for marine pollution and the effects of this on seafarers. INTERTANKO will be working with the World Maritime University (WMU) and with the individual student chosen to undertake this important work. INTERTANKO’s Council has identified criminalisation as a high priority item for the INTERTANKO Work Plan.

In response to questions on the decision of the Court in the Republic of Korea to sentence two Indian mariners, an Indian government spokesperson said, on Dec. "Government of India is aware of the decision of the Court in the Republic of Korea to sentence two Indians – Captain J. “This matter was taken up by Secretary (East), Ministry of External Affairs today with the Ambassador of the Republic of Korea. At this meeting Government’s disappointment about the decision of the Court to reverse the earlier decision in which the two merchant marine officers were exonerated, as well as Government’s distress at the harsh prison sentences, was conveyed to the Ambassador of the Republic of Korea.

InterManager, the international trade association for in‐house and third party ship managers, has condemned the decision by South Korean appeal court judges to jail the Master and Chief Engineer of the Hebei Spirit. Guy Morel, General Secretary of InterManager, slammed the retrial decision, which comes after the pair were found innocent of the same charges by a South Korean court in June this year. “It is unacceptable that these two dedicated seafarers should be treated in this way,” Mr. Morel said. InterManager, whose members represent a worldwide fleet of some 2,500 vessels and more than 100,000 crew, believes the plight of the Hebei Spirit pair has already had a detrimental effect on recruitment at a time when seafarers are in short supply.

In connection with a recent Shipping Industry meeting in Beijing the four Chairmen of the Round Table of international shipping associations (RT) which comprises BIMCO, ICS, Intercargo and Intertanko, met to discuss issues of common interest including piracy, the plight of the “Hebei Spirit” officers and practical measures to reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions from ships. The state of lawlessness and recent escalation of piracy attacks in the Gulf of Aden is of enormous concern to the international shipping industry. The RT supports and commends those States that have provided warships to operate in the Gulf of Aden. The presence of these…

Organizations from across the world’s shipping industry issued a vigorous joint protest at the continuing unjust and unreasonable detention of two merchant ships’ officers from the tanker Hebei Spirit who were recently acquitted by a South Korean court as being innocent of all charges of violating the nation’s ocean pollution law, following last year’s oil spill when a floating crane collided with the Hebei Spirit. The Round Table of international shipping associations (BIMCO, International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), International Shipping Federation (ISF), INTERCARGO and INTERTANKO), the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF)…

InterManager, the international inhouse and third party shipmanagement association, has roundly condemned the continuing detention in of the Master and Chief Officer from the tanker Hebei Spirit. The 1993 built Hebei Spirit was at anchor waiting for a berth when a crane barge broke its tow in stormy weather and smashed into her side, holing three cargo tanks. About 10,500 tons of oil spilled into the sea, causing ’s largest ever oil spill. Two South Korean tug masters were jailed for their part in the incident but the two Hebei Spirit\ officers, Indian nationals Capt Jasprit Chawla and Syam Chetan, were cleared of all charges on June 23rd. However, they have since been prevented from leaving pending a retrial that is not expected to take place until early next year.

A South Korean court fined Samsung Heavy Industries Co. $28,870 for its involvement in a major oil spill,  reports said. The local court also sentenced two crew members to up to three years in prison for violating the ocean pollution law. The fine and prison sentences were the maximum allowed under the law. The crew members piloted two tugboats pulling a Samsung-operated crane-carrying barge that slammed into the Hong Kong-registered tanker Hebei Spirit on Dec. 7, causing it to release nearly 80,000 barrels of oil into 's coastal waters. The court also ruled that Hebei Spirit Shipping Co., the owner of the oil tanker, and two of its crew members were not guilty of pollution charges. Source:  China Post

McQuilling Services has released its January 2008 Tanker Market Outlook for the period 2008 through 2012. The report, produced each year in January, presents a forecast for 10 trades in the five major tanker sectors through 2012. Six dirty trades and four clean trades are evaluated and discussed. Since a year ago the world economic outlook has changed significantly in the short term. Growth is expected to slow from 5.2% in 2007 to 4.8% in 2008. The slowdown was sparked by the US economy and its travails in the sub-prime mortgage market which have spread to the international financial markets.

Defense lawyers from rival companies wrangled over who was to blame for South Korea's worst oil spill as the trial resumed of five people accused of negligence, according to AFP. The owners of the Hong Kong-registered supertanker Hebei Spirit denied responsibility at the third hearing of the case in Seosan, 90 kilometres (54 miles) southwest of Seoul. They insisted through lawyers that the spill on December 7 was attributable to irresponsible actions by the operators of a Samsung Heavy Industries barge, according to Yonhap news agency. The barge carrying a construction crane snapped its cables to two tugs in rough seas and rammed the anchored 147,000-ton supertanker, holing it in three places and spilling 10,900 tons of crude.

According to reports, the owner and operators of the tanker involved in South Korea's worst oil spill denied any wrongdoing, but offered sympathy to locals affected by the environmental fallout and their insurer agreed to accept claims for compensation. The Dec. 7 accident occurred after a barge owned by Samsung Group slammed into Hong Kong-registered tanker Hebei Spirit, which leaked 78,920 barrels of oil into western coastal waters. But the owner of Hebei Spirit, Hebei Spirit Shipping Co., and its operator, V. Ships, both denied wrongdoing at a press conference in Hong Kong on Thursday. The accident jeopardized the ecosystem and the livelihood of residents in the area, home to some of the country's most scenic beaches.

The Philippines will ban single-hull oil tankers from its waters from April, two years earlier than planned, after the worst oil spill in the country's history and a separate leak in South Korea. Vessels carrying "black" petroleum products such as crude oil and bunker fuel won't be allowed to dock at ports from April 1 without a double hull, said Transportation Undersecretary Len Bautista in a phone interview from Manila. The single-hull crude oil supertanker Hebei Spirit caused the worst spill in South Korea's history last month after it was struck by a crane causing it to lose 66,000 barrels of crude oil, about 1/3 the size of the Exxon Valdez spill of 1989.

South Korean prosecutors have reportedly charged five people, including the captain of a Hong Kong-registered tanker, following the nation's worst oil spill last month, according to an AFP report. Last month a drifting barge smashed into the 147,000-ton Hebei Spirit on December 7, holing it in three places and spilling 10,900 tonnes of crude. The barge owned by Samsung Heavy Industries had snapped its towline to two tugboats inThe tanker, owned by Hebei Shipping, a Hong Kong corporation, was anchored at the time. Its captain and mate were indicted but not detained for failing to follow safety orders from navigation authorities, the prosecutors said. (Source: AFP)

Reuters reported that South Korea will ban single-hulled tankers from traveling in its waters by 2011, earlier than the international regulation that calls for a ban from 2015, Seoul's maritime ministry said. A single-hulled tanker was involved in South Korea's worst oil spill last month, leaking around 10,500 tons of crude oil after a sea-bound crane mounted on a barge punched holes in the tanker's hull. As of January, 43 per cent of the crude imported into South Korea was carried by single-hulled tankers. This is the first time the ministry has officially set a time frame for banning the tankers. The ministry had previously said it was aiming to phase out single-hulled tankers as soon as 2010.

In the wake of the country's worst oil spill, South Korea reportedly plans to introduce a ban on single-hulled tankers, according to an AFP report. A drifting barge hit a 147,000-ton Hong Kong-registered tanker Hebei Spirit on December 7, holing it in three places, resulting in an estimated 10,900 ton crude oil spill. According to the AFP report, the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries is mulling moving up the country's single-hull phase out from 2015 to 2010.