• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
• /
• v.28 no.2
• /
• pp.324-333
• /
• 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic reminded us again of the importance of essential workers who perform their roles in maintaining the stability of people's daily lives worldwide. Therefore, the International Maritime Organization and overseas countries designated seafarers as essential workers and proposed relevant measures for their protection to enable them to perform their role. In particular, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) urges related associations and member states to support safe boarding and disembarkation of seafarers. However, Seafarers were restricted from boarding or disembarking, shore leave and hospital treatment in certain countries owing to extreme nationalism. This study compares and analyzes the cases of international organizations and major overseas countries to provide a logical basis for the protection of seafarers who play an essential role in the safety of the global supply chain despite the COVID-19 pandemic. This study identifies the need to protect seafarers and their roles as essential workers in the shipping industry and suggests necessary aspects and institutional improvement measures for improving seafarers' working environment to strengthen the shipping industry's resilience. This study is expected to serve as future basic data for national policies aimed at reflecting the roles of seafarers as essential workers and the need to protect them.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.533-541
• /
• 2022

An analysis of marine accidents that occurred in the last five years, revealed that 77.0 % of all grounding accidents and 66.1% of all marine casualties involved small vessels, which was a very high level relatively. The Mokpo Regional Maritime Safety Tribunal (Mokpo-KMST) inquired on 72 cases of marine accidents in 2021, of which 10 cases were grounding accidents. Furthermore, eight cases of grounding accidents occurred in small fishing vessels. This study analyzed eight cases of grounding accidents on small fishing vessels that inquired in the jurisdictional area of Mokpo-KMST in 2021. I found out that this grounding occurred in clear weather with good visibility (2-4 miles) and good sea conditions with a wave height of less than 1 meter. Furthermore, I found that the main causes of grounding were drowsy navigation due to fatigue, neglect of vigilance, neglect of checking ship's position, overconfidence in GPS plotter, and lack of understanding of chart symbols and tidal differences. To reduce grounding accidents of small fishing vessels, I suggested the following measures. First, crew members who have completed the able seafarer training course on bridge watchkeeping should assist to the master. Second, alarm systems to prevent drowsiness should be installed in the bridge. Third, the regulation should be prepared for the performance standards and updating GPS plotter. Finally, the skipper of small vessels should be trained periodically to be familiar with chart symbols and basic terrestrial navigation.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
• /
• v.27 no.2
• /
• pp.228-237
• /
• 2021

In those day, the Busan local government had instituted a rule to support and enhance competition as well as improve respect for the ship management industry. This study aims to extract the cause factors to enhance such competition using intuitionistic decision making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) and interpretive structural modeling (ISM) methods. First, eight factors were extracted from the specifications in the Ship Management Industry Development Act. Second, the intuitionistic fuzzy number was converted to a crisp number using the standard fuzzy number. Third, the influence relationship was analyzed using DEMATEL, and the priority ranks for the factors are determined using ISM. From the results of the impact relationship analysis, the three main cause factors were determined as improvement of technical ship management capability, improvement of expertise of manpower for onshore management, and improvement of the quality of the Korean seafarer. The priorities under the ISM method, in descending order, were as follows: improvement of the quality of Korean seafarers, improvement of professionalism among the manpower for shore management, improvement of technical ship management capability, improvement of commercial ship management capability, establishment of a comprehensive information system, improvement of the working conditions and employment environment for seafarers, financial support such as overseas orders, and strengthening the availability of foreign seafarers. Therefore, it is necessary to prioritize policy promotion based on these factors, especially the top three, as these have the highest impact.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
• /
• v.47 no.4
• /
• pp.191-201
• /
• 2023

The provision of onboard Internet services is recognized as one of the measures to enhance the appeal of seafarers and improve seafarer welfare. This study aims to investigate the influence of seafarers' leisure activities using the Internet on shipboard culture. Shipboard culture was examined using Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory. An empirical analysis was conducted on crewmembers regarding their Internet-based leisure activities and the shipboard culture. As a result, it was observed that sociability activities through the Internet while onboard significantly influenced power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term orientation. The investigation of shipboard culture revealed uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, and long-term orientation, along with low power distance and individualism cultures. In addition, an analysis of shipboard culture according to seafarers' characteristics showed significant differences in certain shipboard cultures based on seafarers' attributes.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Systems Engineering
• /
• v.20 no.spc1
• /
• pp.12-29
• /
• 2024

The purpose of this study is to identify the social issues discussed in Korea regarding Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS), the most advanced ICT field in the shipbuilding industry, and to suggest policy implications. In recent years, it has become important to reflect social issues of public interest in the policymaking process. For this reason, an increasing number of studies use media data and social media to identify public opinion. In this study, we collected 2,843 domestic media articles related to MASS from 2017 to 2022, when MASS was officially discussed at the International Maritime Organization, and analyzed them using text mining techniques. Through term frequency-inverse document frequency (TF-IDF) analysis, major keywords such as 'shipbuilding,' 'shipping,' 'US,' and 'HD Hyundai' were derived. For LDA topic modeling, we selected eight topics with the highest coherence score (-2.2) and analyzed the main news for each topic. According to the combined analysis of five years, the topics '1. Technology integration of the shipbuilding industry' and '3. Shipping industry in the post-COVID-19 era' received the most media attention, each accounting for 16%. Conversely, the topic '5. MASS pilotage areas' received the least media attention, accounting for 8 percent. Based on the results of the study, the implications for policy, society, and international security are as follows. First, from a policy perspective, the government should consider the current situation of each industry sector and introduce MASS in stages and carefully, as they will affect the shipbuilding, port, and shipping industries, and a radical introduction may cause various adverse effects. Second, from a social perspective, while the positive aspects of MASS are often reported, there are also negative issues such as cybersecurity issues and the loss of seafarer jobs, which require institutional development and strategic commercialization timing. Third, from a security perspective, MASS are expected to change the paradigm of future maritime warfare, and South Korea is promoting the construction of a maritime unmanned system-based power, but it emphasizes the need for a clear plan and military leadership to secure and develop the technology. This study has academic and policy implications by shedding light on the multidimensional political and social issues of MASS through news data analysis, and suggesting implications from national, regional, strategic, and security perspectives beyond legal and institutional discussions.