Two people have been assumed dead after being declared missing on a containership belonging to Indonesian shipping line Meratus Line. The ship sank in the Java Sea on September 2, 2015, according to HIS Maritime 360.
PTI previously reported on a shipping disaster which took place in December, 2014, whereby 13 fishermen were killed after a containership collided with its boat.
Sonny Pattiselanno, Secretary of the Indonesian Seafarers' Union, says that ship owners can often breach regulations, pointing to a potential cause of the sinking, saying: “What's more, the harbour master doesn't always undertake comprehensive ship safety inspections. And when there is a ship disaster, all too often it is the crew who are the victims and blamed – even criminalised.
“Until now there has been no progress towards Indonesia ratifying the MLC [Maritime Labour Convention protecting seafarers' welfare].”
Accidents at sea can also occur in the form of piracy, where the criminal act itself is slowly on the rise in areas such as the straits Singapore and Malacca.
Ship owners and the wider shipping community are coming under increasing scrutiny to counter these incidents so that ship operatives can move into a safer working environment for the benefit of seafarers.
