Rally for jailed Hebei Spirit officers

Transport workers, Indian trade unions and Intertanko representatives will be among those to participate in a protest Jan. 23 in front of the South Korean embassy over the jailing of two officers involved in South Korea's biggest oil spill.

   The officers, Capt. Jasprit Chawla, and Chief Officer Syam Chetan, currently face one-and-a-half years and eight months, respectively, in jail following an oil spillage caused by an out-of-control crane barge hitting their anchored ship, the Hebei Spirit, in December 2007. V.Ships, the ship management company that employs the two officers, also plans to attend the rally, along with global union federation the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), shipowners’ managers’ associations Intercargo, and the International Maritime Employers’ Committee (IMEC).

   Chawla and Chetan have been held in Korea for more than 400 days. Although cleared by a Korean court in June 2008 of responsibility for the collision and ensuing pollution, they continued to be detained in Korea pending hearing by the a Korean appeal court, which last month reversed the decision and declared the two men guilty. They were jailed on Dec. 10.

   A campaign for their release attracted worldwide support, particularly across the shipping industry, which has seen their conviction and imprisonment as being everything to do with assuaging Korean public opinion (the men were paraded outside the court in handcuffs), and with helping the owner of the crane barge, Samsung, to reduce its exposure to paying for clean-up, IMEC, ITF, Intertanko, Intercargo and V.Ships said in a joint statement.

Source: American Shipper