The Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) said yesterday that it is considering raising the percentage of passenger ships subject to random inspections by the seaport authority from 6 percent to 20 percent following the shipwreck of a South Korean ferry on Wednesday last week.
The potential policy change was proposed at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee in Taipei yesterday, when the committee was scheduled to address the budget for the ministry for the fiscal year 2014.
Members of the committee were concerned what the government would do to prevent similar tragedies from happening in Taiwan.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lee Kun-tse (李昆澤) said that the South Korean ferry Sewol capsized and sank within two hours suggested that there was something wrong with the structure of the ferry.
He said Taiwan has several large roll-on roll-off ships like Sewol, such as the Taima (台馬輪), Taihua (台華輪) and Hofu (合富輪) ferries and that these vessels have been in operation for an average of 25 years, making them older than the South Korean ferry.
Lee cited statistics from the Maritime and Ports Bureau, showing that the nation has about 2.5 million shipping service passengers per year.
Under the Ships Act (船舶法), the bureau is supposed to conduct an annual inspection and a special inspection once every five years.
The bureau can also launch random inspections at short notice. Though the nation’s seaports also provide services to 190,000 vessels per year, only about 6 percent of them are subject to random inspections by the bureau, Lee said.
In response, MOTC Minister Yeh Kuang-shih (葉匡時) said the ministry would widen its random inspections of the large roll-on roll-off ships and make sure that shippers meet safety requirements.
“We have completed random inspections this month. They will be followed by emergency response drills, which are to be completed within one month. Then we will hold explanatory sessions informing the shipping firms about the inspection rules,” bureau director general Chi Wen-jong (祁文中) added.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
RSS