Ports of Refuge in the spotlight

摘要

On 29 December 2013, the chemical tanker Maritime Maisie collided with Gravity Highway, a Ray Car Carriers-owned pure car carrier, off Busan. Gravity Highway was on a sea trial after being built at Hyundai Mipo Dockyard. Owned by Singapore-based IMC, Maritime Maisie, was carrying 29,337 tonnes of flammable chemicals, from Busan to Ningbo, China. All 91 crew members on Maritime Maisie and Gravity Highway were rescued. Both ships caught fire and about 4,000 tonnes of the chemical tanker's cargo consisting of paraxylene and acrylonitrile were lost in the fire. Two months later the tanker remains stranded off Japanese waters while South Korea and Japan equivocate over granting a port of refuge for fear of contamination. "The governments of South Korea and Japan are now in discussion over this issue. It's not an easy decision because of the risks involved," a South Korea Coast Guard official told IHS Maritime.