“Hebei Spirit two” released on bail

By on Jan 16, 2009

After being detained for more than a year by the South Korean authorities over an oil-spill for which they were not responsible, Captain Jasprit Chawla and Chief Officer Syam Chetan were released on bail of $10,000 each yesterday, pending a final decision from the Supreme Court

The announcement came on the eve of a rally that was scheduled to take place outside the South Korean embassy in London today

Employers, trade unionists and shipping industry representatives planned to rally in protest against what they describe as the politically and economically motivated imprisonment of the two men in South Korea

This is the first positive step in resolving the case, and all the trade associations and unions involved in the planned action (VShips, the ITF, INTERTANKO, Intercargo and IMEC) believe that a postponement of the planned action will create a better environment for a successful resolution to this long-running saga

Chawla and Chetan faced eighteen months and eight months respectively in jail following an oil spillage caused by an out-of-control crane barge that hit their anchored ship, the Hebei Spirit, in December 2007

The shipping world condemned Korea's treatment of the pair Unions mobilised in protest while the captain and chief officer were held pending a hearing by the Appeal Court, which declared the men guilty in December 2008 despite the fact that they had already been cleared of blame by a Korean court in June

The shipping industry saw 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