An increasing trend of meting out harsh treatment to shipboard crew has been slammed by the local shipping industry body.
Singapore Shipping Association (SSA) president S.S. Teo warned that mistreating crew could deter prospective sailors from entering the profession, further worsening the manpower shortage.
Mr Teo said incidents of mistreatment were becoming more common across the maritime industry, with one case in particular that he said was 'of great concern'.
It concerns the lengthy detention in South Korea of two officers from a Hong Kong-registered tanker, the Hebei Spirit. The tanker was anchored near Daesan on the Yellow Sea coast last December when another vessel towing a floating crane crashed into it, causing nearly 80,000 barrels of oil to leak into surrounding coastal waters.
It was the worst oil spill in South Korean history.
A court fined the crane's owner, Samsung Heavy Industries, and placed responsibility for the incident on the vessel that had struck the Hebei Spirit and acquitted its captain Jasprit Chawla and chief officer Syam Chetan of all charges of violating the nation's pollution law.
But two senior officers have remained in detention since last December. Such unjustified detentions run contrary to the United Nations International Maritime Organisation and International Labour Organisation guidelines, said Mr Teo.
'Such an act by the authorities does not help in the development of the maritime industry, in particular most of us are aware of the shortage of trained manpower and we're doing our very best to encourage young people to go to sea,' he added.
His comments about the treatment of the two seafarers followed a joint protest by major industry organisations, including the International Chamber of Shipping, International Shipping Federation, the International Transport Workers' Federation and the Hong Kong Shipowners' Association, about the way the case has been handled.
This article was first published in The Straits Times on September 18, 2008.
