Shipping & Ports Authority to investigate "Zim Asia" collision

After admitting that one of the company's ships was involved in the collision last week with the Japanese fishing boat, Zim's chairman Idan Ofer made a formal apology to the families of the seven Japanese fishermen killed when the Israeli ship collided with a Japanese fishing boat.
 
In a news conference held last week Ofer admitted that on September 29, the Zim Asia, a 41,507-ton container vessel which had sailed across the Pacific Ocean from Seattle in United States, and passed through the waters off Nosappu before docking in Busan, collided with the 29-ton Japanese Shinsei Maru No.3 off Hokkaido.
 
Ofer said Zim Asia’s captain was asleep at the time of the accident, and had not felt it, otherwise he would have stopped the vessel.
 
Last Monday, Ofer met H.E. Japanese Ambassador to Israel Jun Yokota to apologize for the accident and send his condolences to the families. The formal investigation of the accident began last week, as Japanese and Israeli investigators headed to Hong Kong, where the Israeli ship was docking. Japan had sent four investigators to Hong Kong to probe the accident.
 
The investigators will meet with representatives of Zim lines as well as a special investigator from Israel Shipping and Ports Administration sent late last week by Transportation Minister Meir Sheetrit.
 
According to statement made by Zim, the fact that the accident took place in international waters, neither Japan nor South Korea has the legal authority to conduct investigations on ships other than their own.
 
Nevertheless after the Ministry of Transport acceded to a request by Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport, at the end of the investigation the Zim Asia’s crew will be questioned by Japanese investigators, and samples of the paint will be taken from the ship’s hull.