The Queen Beetle, a high-speed vessel connecting the ports of Hakata, Fukuoka, and Pusan, South Korea, was announced to be shut down. The vessel had been experiencing flooding in the bottom of the ship for some time, but unannounced inspections by the relevant ministries and agencies uncovered a series of acts that covered up the flooding, forcing the vessel to suspend service from August 13. This route has been operated by the JR Kyushu Group for more than 30 years, since the time of the jetfoil “Beetle,” the predecessor of the current vessels, and since the unannounced inspection in August, the actual conditions such as “failure to report flooding,” “creation of double and ura management records of flooding,” “falsification of safety equipment operation,” “president also aware and instructed to cover up irregularities” have been revealed at an early stage. At the press conference following the announcement of the suspension, JR Kyushu Managing Director Takuma Matsushita stated, “Some will question whether we are qualified to operate the (vessel) business. However, JR Kyushu President Yoji Furumiya repeatedly stated, “If safety awareness and hardware measures (hull repairs) can be taken for the ship, we may resume operations,” and was working on the assumption that the Queen Beetle would be restored. On December 23, he announced his decision to abandon the resumption of operations and to withdraw from the shipping business itself. In August, when the situation first came to light, many were asking whether it would be difficult to continue the business. In August, when the series of events came to light, many people were asking whether it would be difficult for the company to continue its business. Why did JR Kyushu decide to protect the Queen Beetle in spite of this? In the first part of this article, we read the “Third-Party Committee Investigation Report,” which contains the details of the fraudulent inspection of the Queen Beetle. Please take a look at it as well. In fact, “the ship business of the JR Kyushu Group” had a history of more than 30 years and was a special entity to be cherished among the 44 group companies. First, let us look back to 37 years ago, when Kyushu Railway Company was established through the privatization of Japan National Railways, and see how much of a role the “Beetle” and “Queen Beetle” have played in the ship business.
The Corona Disaster, which was a miscalculation JR Kyushu began considering replacing the Beetle that had been in use for over 20 years. From this point, a series of unintended miscalculations occurred, and there is no denying the sense that they ultimately led to the “fraudulent inspection for continued operation. First, a management decision was made to replace three Jetfoils, Beetle, Beetle II, and Beetle III, with trimaran-type high-speed vessels like the Queen Beetle. Jetfoils can travel at 45 knots (about 80 km/h), which is quite fast because they fly above the sea surface, but they can only accommodate about 200 passengers. In addition, they have to decelerate rapidly to avoid whales and other animals, and seatbelts are required on board. On the other hand, a high-speed passenger ship such as the Queen Beetle takes about 30% longer, but passengers are free to do whatever they like on board, and can take advantage of the attendant service that JR Kyushu has provided on its many sightseeing trains such as “Yufuin-no Mori” and “A Train to Go”. The trimaran hull, with its broad horizontal structure, would have a capacity of about 500 passengers, and would have the advantage of not losing reservations during the tourist season due to full occupancy. In addition, the competition with air travel had pushed the number of passengers to less than 300,000 and then to less than 200,000 per year, so the company chose to compete with high-speed vessels, which offer a slower, more comfortable service and are the opposite of air travel, which takes less than an hour to arrive.
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