Korea and China strengthen Maritime Safety Cooperation

The Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs says that China and Korea agreed on 10 agendas including AIS information sharing and special safety inspection on passenger ships, at the 11th Korea-China Maritime Safety Assistant Ministerial Meeting to strengthen vessel safety in the Yellow Sea and facilitate shipping logistics between the two nations.

Korea and China will share AIS information from late this year. Upon the agreement, both sides will share AIS information in earnest. AIS information is not available in areas 50 knots far from the coast but the location of vessels can be detected in real time in the Yellow Sea as the information will be managed in cooperation with China. It will enable fast and precise search and rescue operations and strengthen safety and operation management on national vessels.

Lim, Ki Taek, Director General for Maritime Safety of MLTM and the head of the Korean delegation, said that bilateral cooperation on AIS information sharing will be a successful model for maritime cooperation between neighboring nations. Both sides will jointly submit an official document regarding information sharing cooperation to IMO.

In addition, Korea agreed to sign an MOU on AIS information sharing with Russia last April, and therefore the area where vessel positioning information is available will be expanded further.

Korea and China will conduct a special safety inspection on international passenger ships.
The two nations have conducted safety inspection on scheduled passenger ships every 6 months since 2004. They will continue to carry out a special inspection on 2 vessels with grave defects and will lay an embargo on vessels which are not capable of protecting passengers properly.

Korea and China will intensify joint response to international affairs. The two nations have laid a foundation for stronger cooperation to respond to climate change, piratical attacks and set up safety standards on WIG vessels. They will exert strong influence in the international shipping arena as Korea and China are IMO council members in Group A and marine superpowers.

Korea and China cooperate in investigating marine accidents and incidents. The two nations held a cooperation meeting for marine accident investigation and amended an agreement reflecting international accident investigation procedures. The meeting has been held every year since 2005 and has provided a venue for information sharing and investigation cooperation.<Korea Shipping Gazette>