Wednesday, 04 November 2009 11:57
THE Hebei Two — Jasprit Chawla and Syam Chetan, the two Indians who were detained in Korea in December 2007 when their tanker ships collided with floating cranes of MNC, Samsung— received the Newsmaker of the Year award at the Lloyd’s List Asia Awards this week. As their case recedes into history, the will to fight similar cases must be the million dollar concern.
The master and first officer of the Hebei Spirit are presented as cool and gracious a demeanour as any that have sailed the high seas. Both hail from India, and following their homecoming from arrest and detention in South Korea in June, were welcomed as national celebrities and feted in their home towns of Dehradun and Goa.
On Thursday night they were gracious about the support they received, particularly from V. Ships, the Hebei Spirit’s manager, and its chief executive Roberto Giorgi.
The spill that followed became South Korea’s worst environmental disaster. The two officers were finally cleared of destruction of property in a High Court judgment that confirmed a decision by South Korea’s Supreme Court to overturn the conviction and jail sentences imposed by an earlier court decision.
The case held particular prominence because the two had no control over the accident and were generally seen to be held as scapegoats in the public outcry and political dust-up that ensued from the spill.
Capt Chawla offered this trenchant comment on shipping’s handling of criminalization cases. “The problem has been everyone in the industry has been busy looking after their own interests, including shipowners and P&I clubs,” he said. “We need to be united in tackling this problem.”
Mr Giorgi was succinct on the point. He recommended strong guidelines through a draft of international law that can be passed by the International Maritime Organization. The aim would be to establish an international legal standard in such cases and to eliminate unfair detention.
As subsequent cases involving the Full City in Norway and the Tosa in Taiwan remind us, aggressive state action against seafarers is no longer an anomaly. Faster action is needed.
Source: Lloyd's List
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