Warrant Issue Requested Against Chairman of Polaris Shipping

By


The Maritime Executive


01-23-2019 04:49:53

A warrant for the arrest of the chairman of Polaris Transport has been requested by South Korean authorities, in line with native media stories.

Polaris Transport operated the Stellar Daisy – the very massive ore provider that went lacking off Uruguay on April 1, 2017. The 266,000-ton bulk provider had 24 crew on the time. Their closing message was that she was taking up water and itemizing, and the 2 survivors of the casualty reported that her hull cracked earlier than she went down. The reason for the loss has not but been formally decided.

Yonhap Information stories that the warrant has been requested in opposition to Kim Wan-joong, chairman of Polaris Transport and two different firm officers for violation of delivery security legislation. A courtroom listening to is ready for Thursday. Additional costs could also be laid, together with negligent murder. Different media stories state that warrants are additionally being requested in opposition to an inspector of Korean Register of Transport and two others from one other firm answerable for inspecting the vessel.

American subsea survey firm Ocean Infinity was employed by the federal government of South Korea late final 12 months to conduct a seek for the Stellar Daisy. Ocean Infinity operates high-tech AUVs to conduct large-scale detailed surveys, together with ROVs for particular web site inspections. The corporate was concerned within the seek for Malaysian Airways Flight MH370, and it efficiently positioned the lacking Argentinian Navy submarine ARA San Juan in November final 12 months.

The 1993-built Stellar Daisy began life because the single-hulled crude tanker Dawn III. Within the late 2000s, single-hulled tankers have been being phased out in favor of double-hull designs, and a Korean bulker agency purchased the Dawn and a number of other different VLCCs for conversion to dry bulk ore carriers. About two dozen vessels with comparable conversions are nonetheless in operation at present. 

A couple of days after the Stellar Daisy‘s sinking, operator Polaris Transport confirmed that one other of its transformed ore carriers, Stellar Unicorn, had a crack on the outer hull. She has since been scrapped at Gadani, Pakistan. Hull cracks have been additionally reportedly discovered on the Polaris-operated Stellar Queen, one other transformed ore provider which remains to be in service.

In Might 2017, South Korean Coast Guard investigators raided Polaris’ workplaces in Seoul and Busan as a part of an inquiry into the reason for the sinking. 

Between 2008 and 2017 there have been 53 whole losses of bulk carriers of 10,000 ton deadweight and above with the reported lack of 202 seafarers.