ITF: Seafarers Aboard FOC Ship Neither Fed Nor Paid
The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) voiced concerns about the welfare of 21 Filipino seafarers aboard a flag-of-convenience bulk carrier berthed at Port Kembla.
Namely, inspections found that the stores aboard the ship were severely lacking and none of the crew had been paid in four months, Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) informed.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) has detained the ship, the Bulk Brasil, for serious breaches of the Maritime Labor Convention.
The Bulk Brasil is an 82,000 dead weight ton, Panamanian-registered vessel, managed and operated by Japanese-based multinational Keymax.
It is a repeat offender and has been found to have deficiencies in 12 ports worldwide. An AMSA inspection in Hay Point, Queensland last year found that the vessel had deficiencies in pollution prevention, working and living conditions, safety of navigation and fire safety, MUA said.
ITF’s National Coordinator Dean Summers said there was a spike in substandard ships visiting Australian ports after another vessel was detained in Newcastle just yesterday.
“Ironically, the Keymax website claims that the company ‘promises to deliver the finest in crewing services’; am I wrong in thinking that the ‘finest in crewing services’ to mean that the crew will be fed and paid,” Summers asked. “Australian exporters have to be held responsible for the ships they charter, they must not be permitted to vicariously exploit and abuse seafarers,” he stressed.
Image: Shipspotting/Arthur Terry
