Re: 'NEWS' Korean Ferry Disaster

International shipping rules mean that this is no longer possible. Ever heard of Samuel Plimpsoll??? - know what a Plimpsoll line is??? - No ship is allowed to leave port (and that includes Korean ferries) if it too full and filled above the Plimpsoll line.

Re: 'NEWS' Korean Ferry Disaster

Sadly not everyone follows the laws and rules. My Pakistani friends tell me horrors of over crowded trains and boats, some can hardly move they are so weighed down. People fall off because they are just clinging to the sides. Cheap though because if you can cling to the side it's free to travel.

Re: 'NEWS' Korean Ferry Disaster

Julie that may be true on trains, I too have travelled in Indian Railway, but ships sailing out into 'open' water are strictly limited to what or how many they can carry. Providing they are adequately policed by Port authorities, then they cannot be overloaded to the extent of making them unstable. . The problem comes in the 'policing' of the rules at Harbours and ports.

Re: 'NEWS' Korean Ferry Disaster

And yet we see boats full of people fleeing regimes sinking killing hundreds every year. For every rule sadly there is a rule breaker willing to put people in danger.

Re: 'NEWS' Korean Ferry Disaster

Yep - plenty of rule breakers out there

Re: 'NEWS' Korean Ferry Disaster

Not the main problem. This ship had an extra 3 decks added to the stern superstructure in October 2012 adding another 239 tons to the top hamper. Wonder what that did to the metacentric height ? Nothing to do with the plimsoll line, that would have been re-painted after the work. Ship was safety checked in Feb 2014 but this would not have extended to the stability geometry. It is reported the ship made a sudden turn before the capsize for reasons unknown . This manoeuvre has been verified by radar records and the suspicion is it caused cargo on the car decks to shift.

Re: 'NEWS' Korean Ferry Disaster

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/04/27/wo...130aVodtoplink