Doomed Asian Bulk Carriers Go Down
Greed or incompetence results in tragic losses of lives, ships, cargoes Dozens of Asian sailors are being lost in regional waters as a result of either greed or incompetence on the part of ship captains or their employers. In the last incident 22 sailors are assumed drowned after a large Vietnamese bulk carrier, the Vinalines Queen, owned by the state shipping line, sank suddenly off the Philippines on Dec. 25. Only one of the crew survived, getting onto a life raft and being picked up by a passing British ship five days later.The story as reported by the wire services was of that one man's survival. But the bigger and unreported story is why such a large vessel would go down so suddenly. The weather was bad but nothing like so bad as should cause a ship of this size any difficulties.The answer almost certainly lies in its 54,000 ton cargo. Just like three Chinese ships which sank in late 2010, the vessel was carrying nickel ore from Indonesia to China. In the Vinalines Queen's case it was from Morowali in central Sulawesi to Ningde in Fujian in China for use in the steel industry. Four ships lost in just ...
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