What’s new: Eight people are missing after the fishing boat they were on collided with a container ship off the coast of South China’s Hainan province, authorities said Wednesday.
The vessel collided with Panama-flagged container ship SITC Danang at approximately 12:15 a.m. on Wednesday, 22 nautical miles southwest off the coast of the Ledong Li autonomous county, the Hainan Maritime Safety Administration said in a statement Wednesday evening.
The fishing boat capsized, the statement said. The authorities are searching for the missing people and investigating the cause of the collision, it said.
The background: SITC Danang, which primarily serves routes in East Asia, is operated by Hong-Kong headquartered SITC International Holdings Co. Ltd. and owned by Japanese shipping firm Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd.
SITC International operated a fleet of 103 container vessels as of the end of December, and was ranked the world’s 13th largest ship operator in terms of shipping capacity at the end of 2022.
Accidents involving commercial cargo vessels and fishing boats have been on the rise. In September, a collision between a fishing vessel from Dandong, Liaoning province, and a bulk carrier off the coast of the northeastern city of Dalian left at least one person dead.
Contact reporter Kelsey Cheng (kelseycheng@caixin.com) and editor Joshua Dummer (joshuadummer@caixin.com)
