The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) has asked the scourge to stop while highlighting the plight of the eleven Indian and Myanmar crew members were finally repatriated home after 17 months in Ajman, UAE.
What happened?
The vessel ‘Agean Princess’ was reportedly abandoned in the UAE after the ship owners and operators faced financial difficulties, leading them to abandon the crew without pay or the necessary documents to return home.
A statement was released by the group, “The ITF is pleased to announce that the eleven crew of the Panamanian flagged ‘Agean Princess’ have finally been able to return home to India and Myanmar, after a dispute between their ships operator and owner saw them held in Ajman, United Arab Emirates, for 17 months. However, the crew are still owed hundreds of thousands of dollars of unpaid wages”.
Wages pending
Mohamed ArrachedAccorITF inspector, the crew are owned wages dating as far back as 2015, totalling more than US $916,000. The crew were abandoned in the UAE in June, 2016.
He further added, “This has been a difficult case, and in the end we were helped to conclude it by UAE Federal Transport Authority (FTA). The ITF and the FTA have been working closely to end abandonment in UAE waters, and these seafarers have seen the benefit of this. As the UAE moves towards fully complying with the Maritime Labour Convention all seafarers will enjoy the greater protection they deserve when working there”.
He added, “In this case we also had the cooperation of the flag state of the vessel – Panama – that helped to resolve the issue. But this is not the end of this sad story, the seafarers are owed wages going back to 2015, totalling over USD 916,000. There is never an excuse for seafarers to be abandoned like this, it is a scourge that has to stop, and it has to stop now”
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Source: Arabian Supply Chain
