Ship Safety Inspection
It is expected that a foreign inspector will be able to be engaged in ship safety inspection in South Korea, which has been monopolized by the Korean Register of Shipping (KRS), from January next year.
The monopoly by the KRS has been called into question since the Sewol ferry disaster in 2014. The organization has been the South Korean government’s sole agent for ship safety inspection since December 1975.
The Ministry of Oceans & Fisheries of South Korea announced on November 13 that it signed a letter of intent with the French Ministry of the Environment, Energy & the Sea for cooperation in the fields of maritime safety improvement and marine pollution prevention.
According to the LOI, the South Korean and French governments are to designate Bureau Veritas (BV) and KRS as their ship inspection agents, respectively. BV is the second-largest ship classification organization in the world and is highly experienced in liner inspection. Its annual sales amount to six trillion won and 66,000 employees are currently working for the organization.
The two ministries are going to sign follow-up agreements before the end of this year so that ship owners can choose from the two from next month on.