They May Have Quality But They Can't Float: Ship Collision Sinks 3,000 Hyundai Cars Off Singapore

Seoul May 24, 2004; Bae Keun-min writing for the Korea Times reported that a ship carrying 3,000 vehicles of Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors and 1,000 second-hand Japanese cars to Europe sank at midnight Saturday after colliding with an oil tanker offshore of southern Singapore, Hyundai said on Sunday.

The tanker MT Kaminesan contained 279,949 tons of crude oil drove a hole measuring 50 meters by 20 meters on the side of the car-carrying MV Hyundai 105, resulting in the sinking of the carrier, according to the Maritime and Ports Authority of Singapore.

Damage from the accident was estimated at about $57 million, including $40 million for the loaded vehicles and $17 million for the vessel value, according to the Eukor Car Carriers, owner of the sunken ship.

But Hyundai Motor said it has not incurred damage from the accident since it is fully covered by insurance.

``We are expediting efforts to ship replacements for the sunken vehicles. But it will take some time to replace them,'' one Hyundai official said.

The cause of the collision is still under investigation. The oil tanker has been towed by Singapore's port authority for damage assessment.

According to Eukor, there was no oil leak from the tanker and no one was hurt or killed due to the accident.

Eukor's crewmen, including four Koreans and 16 Filipinos, were rescued before the vessel went underwater, Eukor said. The crewmen of the Panama-registered tanker, six Japanese and 20 Filipinos, were reportedly still on the vessel.

Prior to the collision, warnings were given to the two vessels by the traffic information service and the two also communicated with each other at the moment of the collision, according to the authority.