Tag: South Korea

The three suspected pirate ships attempted to approach a commercial vessel A South Korean naval helicopter chased away three suspected pirate ships attempting to approach a South Korean commercial vessel in Somali waters over the weekend, the military said.According to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), the Cheonghae Unit received a call from the 17,000-ton vessel Azalea around 1 a.m. Sunday, Korean time, that three ships were approaching. The naval unit dispatched a Lynx helicopter from its destroyer, Chungmugong Yi Sun-shin, and the chopper fired off three flares at 2:18 a.m.Source: Yonhap News

South Korea to provide counter-piracy training The UAE has invited specialist naval forces from South Korea to provide counter-piracy training as part of efforts to boost its defences against the growing high-seas threat.About 10 underwater demolition troops will arrive in mid-July, supplementing 130 Korean "Ahk" special forces already stationed in Al Ain to provide antiterrorism training, said Col Romano Lee, the defence attache at the South Korean embassy in Abu Dhabi.South Korea successfully freed a ship from Somali pirates in January - an event that left an impression on the UAE, a South Korean defence official told the South Korean Yonhap news agency.In January, its navy commandos rescued the South Korean cargo ship Samho Jewellery, which had been hijacked in the Arabian Sea en route from the UAE to Sri Lanka.All 21 Samho Jewellery crew members survived, including the captain, though he suffered a serious gunshot wound. Eight pirates were killed, while five were captured and now face trial in South Korea.The announcement of the arrival of the 10 Korean troops' arrival comes just days after Abu Dhabi received a Turkish naval delegation to do exercises related to counter-piracy.South Korea and Turkey participate in a multinational counter-piracy group called the ...

Featuring industry specialists as well as Lloyds Register speakers This seminar was the second in a series of three LNG as Fuel seminars, featuring industry specialists as well as Lloyds Register speakers. A total of 125 delegates, mainly from Korea, heard the early findings of a Lloyds Register bunkering study, the latest LNG fuel tank arrangements, the IGF Code and how the latest regulations affect the future of LNG as Fuel.Why is Lloyd's Register holding these seminars?Growing global interest in LNG as Fuel and how to manage, maintain and develop it is the theme ofthis series of cross-industry seminars run by Lloyds Register for shipowners and operators, shipbuilders and marine cluster specialists.Panels of industry speakers at the seminars in London (April 20), Busan (June 13) and Vancouver (June 22) are helping our clients and associates understand the real design issues, regulations and bunkering developments behind the use of LNG as Fuel.Latifat Ajala, Lloyd's Register's Marine Market Analyst (third from left), answers a question from the floor with panel chair Lloyd's Register's Thanos Koliopulos (left), and panellists Wartsila's Byung Sam Ahn (second left) and MAN's Ole Groene (right)Source: Lloyd's Register

The vessels are scheduled for delivery in 2013 and 2014 Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) is splurging $1.54bn on 12 new containerships at yards in South Korea.The Singapore boxline has signed letters of intent Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries for ten 14,000 teu capacity vessels, and with Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering for a pair of 9,200 teu ships. The company is also upsizing ten 8,400 teu ships ordered at DSME last year to 9,200 teu.The vessels are scheduled for delivery in 2013 and 2014 and the 14,000 teu ships will be deployed on the Asia Europe trade.NOL said it is investing in new, larger vessels to reduce unit capital and operating costs, meet future growth needs and replace older and smaller chartered vessels that will be returned to their owners in the charter market.Source: Seatrade Asia

Along with other countries will discuss ways to fight piracy South Korea will take part in a counter-piracy meeting in Rome this week, the foreign ministry here said Sunday.South Korea will join the host Italy along with other nations including the United States, Britain, France and Norway on Wednesday to discuss ways to cut off illicit financial flows linked to piracy and to share information in their fight against piracy.Moon Ha-young, a foreign ministry envoy for consular affairs, will represent South Korea at the meeting, the ministry said.

On June 29, Seoul will host the second meeting on illicit funding for the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS), with about 40 nations attending.A ministry official said the Rome meeting will help about 10 key participants prepare for the CGPCS gathering.The CGPCS was established in January 2009 under a U.N. Security Council Resolution to coordinate actions among some 50 nations and organizations to combat Somali pirates. South Korea chaired the seventh plenary meeting of the CGPCS held in New York last November.Source: Seatrade Asia

Guilty of hijacking a South Korean-operated ship in the Arabian Sea. A Somali pirate was sentenced to 15 years in prison Wednesday after he was found guilty of hijacking a South Korean-operated ship in the Arabian Sea.Abdulahi Husseen Maxamuud was the fifth and final gang member to be sentenced after four others were given long jail terms last Friday.They were seized when South Korean navy commandos recaptured the chemical carrier Samho Jewelry in a daring raid on January 21, six days after it was hijacked.Lawyers said earlier that Maxamuud would be tried separately because he would plead guilty.But on Wednesday he denied major involvement in the hijack, Yonhap news agency reported from the southern port city of Busan."I sincerely apologise for what happened... I was not involved in the crime because I was just the cook," the agency quoted him as telling judges, adding he had tried to restrain the other Somalis.The court cleared him of the attempted murder of the ship's captain but convicted him of maritime robbery and other charges. It said he deserved a heavy penalty because he was involved in piracy and showed little repentance.Prosecutors had demanded life imprisonment.The trials were the country's first attempt to ...