InterManager, the international trade association for in-house and third party shipmanagers, has vowed to work to clear the records of the two officers jailed by Korea following the Hebei Spirit oil spill in December 2007.
On the day Captain Jasprit Chawla and Chief Officer Syam Chetan, Master and Chief Officer of the Hebei Spirit, were finally released after being held in Korea for 551 days since the accident, InterManager President Roberto Giorgi pledged: “We will work hard to exonerate these two professional men and to clear their career records.”
Welcoming their release, Mr Giorgi added: “The most immediate priority is to get the men safely home to their families and friends in India.”
After that, he said, InterManager will investigate whether European Maritime Labour Convention legislation can be used to address the global issue of criminalisation of seafarers, one thing InterManager has been campaigning strongly for.