On August 20, 2022, a 2,942-ton Chinese cargo ship was hit by a Japanese ship with a tonnage of only 595 tons while sailing normally off the coast of Japan.
It turned out that after the collision between the two, the hull of the bulky Chinese cargo ship was damaged and showed signs of sinking into the water, while the Japanese ship was only slightly damaged. So what happened?
The ship that was hit was China's "Xinhai 99", which belonged to a large cargo ship, and the "Xinhai 99" was loaded with large steel and sailed towards its destination according to the predetermined route. At first, everything went well, but just as we were sailing into the coastal waters of Japan, an accident happened.
The crew found that on the side of the "Xinhai 99", a cargo ship flying the Japanese flag suddenly came at a rapid speed, and the other party collided directly with the "Xinhai 99".
Although the "Xinhai 99" took action at the first time and controlled the bow of the ship to turn around, because the tonnage of the "Xinhai 99" was relatively large, it was relatively limited in its action, and the speed of the Japanese ships was too fast, resulting in the bow of the "Xinhai 99" being directly knocked out of a big hole.
After the hull was damaged, a large amount of seawater poured into the ship, causing the "Xinhai 99" to show signs of tilting and sinking, but fortunately, the crew on the ship took action at the first time to successfully sail the "Xinhai 99" ship out of this area.
After the incident, the relevant departments of our country immediately issued a letter to the Japanese side, demanding that the Japanese side give a reply and pay relevant compensation. However, the attitude of the Japanese side was very uncooperative, and the investigation of our country was also very perfunctory, and it was only willing to admit that it was the "Ryoshin Maru" that deviated from its course during the voyage.
Moreover, Japanese netizens also ridiculed this incident on the Internet, slandering the quality of China's cargo ships as having problems, and Japan's hype has triggered heated discussions in many countries.
Japan quickly realized how much of an impact this incident would have, so it seized the time to analyze the reasons for the serious injuries on our cargo ships and the minor injuries on Japanese cargo ships, and announced the results.
There are two main reasons for this phenomenon, the first is that the degree of protection of the cargo ships of the two sides is different, although China's "Xinhai 99" is relatively large in tonnage, but in fact it is only a civilian cargo ship.
If it is operated normally, there will not be much of a problem, so in terms of the protection of the ship, it is only an ordinary civilian standard, but the Japanese cargo ship "Ryoshin Maru" is used to transport chemicals.
At the time of its construction, the "Ryoshin Maru" had strict regulations on protection standards, and the cargo ship's ability to resist strikes was far superior to that of other ordinary civilian ships.
The second is that there is a clear difference in the speed of the two ships, according to the investigation, when the two ships collided, the Chinese ships were sailing at normal speeds, and the speed of Japanese cargo ships was far beyond the normal level.
This leads to a significant difference in speed between the two cargo ships, and under the effect of speed, when the two cargo ships collide, there will be a huge impact, which will cause serious damage to the ship.
It is under the influence of the above factors that China's cargo ships will be seriously damaged, and there are no obvious quality problems as advertised in Japan.
After China gave a detailed explanation, the international doubts about the quality of China's ships gradually subsided, and this matter did not have much impact on China's shipbuilding industry.
But behind this incident, in fact, it also reflects the complex international environment, the world's resources are limited, and the rise of the grain industry to harvest a large number of orders at the same time, but also touch the interests of other countries.
Under such complex international relations, only by making continuous efforts to better enhance the strength of the country can we have more say in the international community and ensure that our interests are not infringed upon.