Sewol News

South Korea remembered the 304 people, most of them school children, who died on the Sewol ferry on the 10th anniversary of its sinking on Tuesday, with families calling for a proper apology for the unnecessary deaths of their loved ones.Many parents attended a memorial service in the city of Ansan, home of the 250 children who died on the ferry during a school excursion, while another 37 family members boarded a Coast Guard ship that sailed to the scene of the disaster, marked by a lone buoy…

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…

A South Korean businessman wanted for nine years by authorities was extradited from the United States last Friday to face charges linked to one of the country's worst maritime disasters in which over 300 people, mostly children, were killed.Yoo Hyuk-kee was taken into custody on arrival from New York, where he had been fighting extradition to South Korea, where he faces embezzlement charges related to the company that operated the doomed vessel. Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his bid to block the extradition.Yoo…

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Thursday rejected a bid by a businessman to block his extradition to South Korea to face embezzlement charges that stemmed from a 2014 ferry sinking that killed 304 people.Sotomayor rejected Yoo Hyuk-Kee’s request to prevent his extradition from going forward while he appeals lower-court rulings rejecting his effort to avoid being sent to South Korea to face trial on the seven embezzlement charges against him.Sotomayor is the justice assigned to review emergency appeals from a group of states that include New York…

A series of presentations organized and presented jointly by Resolve Marine Group and the SNAME - Greek Supper Section was held Wednesday, June 6 at the Posidonia 2018 exhibition in Athens.The two-hour event included a total of four presentations – two from SNAME and two from Resolve  – focused on the issues of direct and prompt response to merchant vessels’ accidents and damages that have shaken the global shipping community over the past three years.The event was attended by…

Six fragments of remains found, official says; DNA tests planned to identify remains. The remains of what appears to be at least one unrecovered victim of South Korea's sunken Sewol ferry were found near the salvaged vessel on Tuesday, an official said, nearly three years after the disaster that killed 304 people. The ferry was structurally unsound, overloaded and travelling too fast on a turn when it capsized and sank during a routine voyage off the southwest coast on April 16, 2014. Most of the victims were children on a school excursion. "Six pieces of remains that were found are 4 cm to 18 cm long," Lee Cheol-jo, an official of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, told a briefing.

South Korea has chosen a consortium led by China’s state-run Shanghai Salvage Co. as the preferred bidder to raise the Sewol passenger ferry which sank off Jindo Island on April 16, 2014, the country’s Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF) said in a statement. The consortium of Shanghai Salvage and an unnamed South Korean company beat six other consortia competing for the contract. The 6,825-tonne Sewol ferry sank off the southwest coast in April 2014. A total of 295 bodies were recovered, but nine remained unaccounted for when divers finally called off the dangerous search of the sunken vessel last November. The Sewol lies 40 metres (130 feet) down on the sea bed and bringing it to the surface represents a substantial technical challenge.

South Korea said on Wednesday it will raise the Sewol ferry that sank a year ago, killing more than 300 people, most of them children, yielding to pressure from mourning families who have called for a deeper investigation into the disaster. The Sewol, which was structurally unsound, overloaded and travelling too fast on a turn, capsized and sank during a routine voyage and lies 44 metres (144 feet) deep off the southwestern island of Jindo. Of those killed, 250 were teenagers on a school trip, many of whom obeyed crew instructions to remain in their cabins even as crew members were seen on TV escaping the sinking vessel. A government committee concluded that it would be possible to raise the 6,800-tonne vessel at a cost of 150 billion won ($139 million), the government said in a statement.

South Korea has approved plans to salvage a sunken ferry that capsized last year in the Yellow Sea killing over 300 people, Public Safety and Security Minister Park In-yong said. Last April's disaster happened off the southern coast of Jindo, South Jeolla Province. Nine people are still missing. The ferry was carrying 476 passengers at the time of sinking. The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said Wednesday the operation would use crane vessels and a floating dock to raise the ship. In-yong said on Wednesday (Apr 22) that the decision to raise the ferry was made as the government still hopes to recover the nine missing as they are believed to be inside the ship.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) will hold an international conference on the enhancement of safety of ships carrying passengers on non-international voyages, in Manila, the Philippines, on April 24, 2015. The conference, which will be opened by IMO Secretary-General Koji Sekimizu, will be hosted by the Government of the Philippines at the Philippine International Convention Centre, Manila, and is expected to be attended by a number of IMO Member States interested in the matter…

As Canadians remember the tragic sinking of the Korean ferry, MV Sewol, one year ago today, Canada’s ferry operators remind Canadians of the notable safety track record of its sector. Through a short video posted online, the Canadian Ferry Operators Association (CFOA) showcases how its ferries are among the safest modes of transportation in the world and adhere to high safety standards. “Canada’s transportation system is one of the safest in the world,” said Serge Buy, CEO of CFOA. According to the Transportation Safety Board (TSB), there have been no accidents resulting in fatalities in the ferry sector in the past seven years. In 2013, TSB reported only 13 accidents involving ferries in 2013, a reduction of 48% from 2011.

The South Korean government said on Wednesday it would pay about 420 million won ($380,000) as compensation for each of the 250 students who died or remain missing from last year's ferry disaster, in the first settlement offer to victims' families. The families of 11 teachers who died in the disaster will each receive about 760 million won, the higher amount to account for lost income, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said. Other passengers will receive between 150 million won and 600 million won, depending on their age and income, it said. More than two-thirds of the 476 passengers on board the doomed Sewol ferry were students on a school trip. Many of them died trapped in the vessel following orders by the crew to stay in their cabins as it capsized and sank on April 16 last year.

Shipping losses continued their long-term downward trend with 75 reported worldwide in 2014, making it the safest year in shipping for 10 years, according to Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty SE’s (AGCS)  third annual Safety and Shipping Review 2015, which analyzes reported shipping losses of over 100 gross tons. Losses declined by 32% compared with the previous year and were well below the 10-year loss average of 127. Since 2005 shipping losses have declined by 50%. More than a third of 2014’s total losses were in two maritime regions: South China…

South Korea's new maritime minister Yoo Ki-june urged all-out efforts to enhance maritime safety. Calling the tragic sinking of a passenger ferry last year the result of a failure by his ministry, Ki-june said that his ministry would work to be aggressive while pursuing its goals. "In the case of safety, we must thoroughly guard against any failure," he said. "Through a series of accidents, we have come up with a number of (safety) measures while also making significant improvements to the law and the system. But we must check thoroughly to see how such changes are actually applied out in the field," he said. Yoo, a lawyer-turned-lawmaker, is a native of Busan, the country's largest port city.

The MV Sewol, the capsized South Korean ferry that killed 304 passengers, could be raised, the country's Choson Ilbo newspaper reported yesterday. A 23-member task force of civilian experts and government officials concluded that raising the intact hull of the ferry is possible. The scenario proposed by task force members involves drilling approximately 100 lifting holes on the starboard side of the ship. The hull would then be connected by chains to two floating cranes weighing between 10,000 and 8,000 tons and moved to shallow waters.

The chief engineer of the doomed Sewol ferry who was jailed for 30 years for leaving behind two injured crewmates believed they were dead and had acted in "a state of extreme fear and panic," his lawyer told a South Korean appeals court on Tuesday. Defence lawyers for the 15 surviving crew members of the ferry that capsized last April, killing 304 people, have appealed their convictions that led to prison terms ranging from five to 36 years. The ship's chief engineer was convicted of homicide for not aiding two injured crew members. He was the only one of four facing homicide charges to be found guilty on that count, and sentenced in November to 30 years in prison.

The captain of a South Korean ferry that capsized in April killing 304 passengers was jailed for 36 years on November 11, 2014, after a court found him guilty of negligence, but was acquitted of homicide for which prosecutors had sought the death penalty. The court convicted the ship's chief engineer of homicide for not aiding two injured fellow crew members, making him the only one of four facing homicide charges to be found guilty on that count, and sentenced him to 30 years in prison.

Eight of the 15 surviving crew members of a South Korean ferry that capsized in April have filed for appeal against their convictions on negligence charges in the country's worst maritime disaster in more than four decades. The eight crew members, who had been given prison sentences ranging from five to 30 years, filed appeal papers on Thursday, according to court records. Video footage of the crew escaping the sharply listing vessel after telling the passengers to stay inside has sparked nationwide grief and anger. The families of the victims, many of whom were school children, have demanded harsh penalties. The captain was sentenced to 36 years in jail on Tuesday but acquitted of homicide for which prosecutors had sought the death penalty. He was not among the eight who filed for appeal.

South Korea launches a massive new government agency this week to handle emergency rescue and safety management seven months after a ferry disaster killed 304 people and was blamed by President Park Geun-hye on a failed response by the coast guard. The coast guard is being broken up and its search and rescue duties are being moved to the new National Safety Agency that will have more than 10,000 staff and incorporate fire and emergency response teams, the government said on Tuesday.

Johan Roos is Interferry’s executive director of European Union and IMO affairs based in Brussels, Belgium. He took up the newly created regulatory affairs post in September 2011 after previously serving as director of sustainability with Sweden’s Stena Rederi AB. He holds a masters degree in environmental sciences from the University of Gothenburg. In 2000, he left classification society DNV to join ferry operator Stena Line to develop internal environmental management systems and for many years, he was in charge of sustainability issues for all of the Stena group’s shipping activities.

It all adds up to the global effort to strengthen bottom lines, safety margins and the collective environmental footprint. The future for ferries seems to be on fire; both in good ways and bad. The good is always a good place to start. And, that’s because it is ferry fabrication time. The most notable ferry routes in America are jumping into the construction queue for new vessels and soon the next generation of ferry vessels will be hitting the piers (not literally of course).

An eight-member team from Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit (MDSU) 1 onboard USS Fort Worth (LCS 3) is supporting the ongoing Indonesian-led search effort for AirAsia flight QZ8501 with advanced Tow Fish side scan sonar systems capable of providing high-resolution images of the ocean floor. The Tow Fish side scan sonar system is used to identify objects on the seafloor and provide accurate imagery for analysis. The sonar carries a passive listening device for detecting an acoustic pulse and is towed behind a vessel between 1-5 knots.

In recent years, ferries have been in the spotlight, in part because of growing mass transit needs and increased road congestion, but also because of concerns about the deadly South Korean ferry sinking last April. We asked Captain Terri Bernstein, the Passenger Vessel Association’s 2014 President, about the industry’s status in the United States. Based in Alexandria, VA, the PVA has over 500 member companies. Ferries are safer, especially since 9/11, but regulatory requirements have swelled and can be onerous, Bernstein said. She’s the owner of BB Riverboats, Inc.