Bulker safety

摘要

In 1988 the Panamanian bulk carrier Mega Taurus capsized en route to Japan carrying nickel ore from the Philippines and 20 seafarers perished. Ten years later, the Panamanian-registered bulk carrier Sea Prospect capsized off Okinawa with the loss of 10 lives while carrying nickel ore loaded in Indonesia. Reports of these incidents are unavailable, so no lessons can be learnt. How many lives could have been saved had the flag states carried out thorough investigations and published reports into these forgotten tragedies? My research shows that a total of eight vessel losses can be attributed to liquefaction between 1998 and 2013, with the loss of an estimated 111 lives, 81 of them in the past three years.