The South Korean government has no intention to tighten rules on single-hulled oil tankers following the oil tanker accident off its west coast last week which caused the country's worst oil spill. Seoul's maritime ministry, however, has said the country will meet the International Maritime Organization (IMO)'s regulation on the phase-out of single-hulled tankers from 2010. "We will go along with the international regulation, but we do not have any plan to tighten regulations on the tankers," Lee Ki-sang, an official responsible for offshore operations at the ministry, was quoted saying. From January this year, 43% of crude imported into South Korea was carried by single-hulled tankers, the ministry said. An industry source said it is "impossible" for Korea to implement separate regulations since there is a constant shortage of oil tankers. Hebei Spirit, the single-hulled oil tanker involved in the recent major oil spill, leaked about 11,000 metric tonnes (mt) of crude into the waters off the port of Taean last Friday. A major cleanup operation involving more than 7,000 people is underway.
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