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Seafarers seize ship over unpaid wages and owner neglect
来源：shippingazette 编辑：编辑部 发布：2023/02/14 14:37:35
FOUR seamen, with assistance from the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), have seized a cargo ship off the Port of Dakar in Senegal after months without pay and mounting danger to their lives, reports Singapore's Splash 247.
The four crewmen of the once Togo flagged 2,650-dwt general cargo ship Onda had been demanding repairs to the engine. Port authorities have ignored their requests for help for more than a year.
Acting on behalf of the four crewmen, the ITF went to a Senegalese court to have the ship legally seized, as its ongoing position near a busy shipping lane left crew and others vulnerable to collision at night, with no engine to power the vessel's warning lights.
The vessel remains seized until the owners pay the more than US$84,000 owed in wages to the crew. Seizing the vessel means the ship cannot be used by its owner until the debts are settled.
The ITF is also claiming costs from the owners as they left the ship at anchor for lengthy periods without providing adequate provisions for the crew, as a shipowner is obliged to under the Maritime Labour Convention and most seafarer contracts. The ITF has stepped in on several occasions to ensure the seafarers did not starve.
The authorities in Dakar have refused to allow the ship into the port, claiming the port was too busy. The officials have persistently ignored requests from the ITF to intercede on behalf of the seafarers. The ITF claims the authorities are effectively violating the terms of the MLC which gives them a clear responsibility to protect seafarer welfare when neither owner nor flag state steps in. In this case, the owners allowed registration of the ship to lapse some time ago, meaning there is no flag state.
The news in Senegal comes at a time when cases of crew abandonment are hitting new highs. Upwards of 1,682 seafarers coming from 103 vessels were cast adrift as 2022 became the worst year on record for reported cases of seafarer abandonment, according to RightShip, a Melbourne-based maritime social justice group.
The four crewmen of the once Togo flagged 2,650-dwt general cargo ship Onda had been demanding repairs to the engine. Port authorities have ignored their requests for help for more than a year.
Acting on behalf of the four crewmen, the ITF went to a Senegalese court to have the ship legally seized, as its ongoing position near a busy shipping lane left crew and others vulnerable to collision at night, with no engine to power the vessel's warning lights.
The vessel remains seized until the owners pay the more than US$84,000 owed in wages to the crew. Seizing the vessel means the ship cannot be used by its owner until the debts are settled.
The ITF is also claiming costs from the owners as they left the ship at anchor for lengthy periods without providing adequate provisions for the crew, as a shipowner is obliged to under the Maritime Labour Convention and most seafarer contracts. The ITF has stepped in on several occasions to ensure the seafarers did not starve.
The authorities in Dakar have refused to allow the ship into the port, claiming the port was too busy. The officials have persistently ignored requests from the ITF to intercede on behalf of the seafarers. The ITF claims the authorities are effectively violating the terms of the MLC which gives them a clear responsibility to protect seafarer welfare when neither owner nor flag state steps in. In this case, the owners allowed registration of the ship to lapse some time ago, meaning there is no flag state.
The news in Senegal comes at a time when cases of crew abandonment are hitting new highs. Upwards of 1,682 seafarers coming from 103 vessels were cast adrift as 2022 became the worst year on record for reported cases of seafarer abandonment, according to RightShip, a Melbourne-based maritime social justice group.