The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) has banned a containership from entering or using the Australian ports for three months.
What happened?
The Liberian flagged container ship ‘MSC Kia Ora’ was reportedly banned from entering the Australian ports for three months after non-payment of dues to its crew members.
The incident closed at the heels following an inspection conducted on a vessel by AMSA. The vessel operated by Vega-Reederei, failed to ensure the crew were paid their full wages on time and critical equipment was maintained.
Non-payment of wages
On March 14, the AMSA inspected the vessel when it arrived at the Port of Brisbane following a complaint that its crew members were allegedly underpaid for the previous four months from November 2017 to February 2018 and were owed more than $A53,000 ($F83,318). The outstanding wages had been transferred to the crew just 24 hours before the inspection.
Breach of law
According to the AMSA, failure to pay wages to the crew members in full and on time is a clear and unacceptable breach of the Maritime Labour Convention.
AMSA’s general manager of operations Allan Schwartz said, “Further breaches of the Maritime Labour Convention were also found during the inspection relating to hours of rest and fitness for duty, Mr Schwartz said, placing the safety of the crew and the ship at risk”.
He further added, “The inspection also revealed that two of the ship’s four generators were defective as well as the starboard main engine fire damper. In total, 24 deficiencies were issued to the MSC Kia Ora. The vessel was inspected again on March 25, 2018, and determined that all detainable deficiencies had been rectified. The ship was released from detention and immediately issued with a ban, preventing it from accessing Australian ports for three months”.
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Source: GNN Liberia
