Shore Leave Being Denied by Company

This explains one thing that has puzzled me. I live on an island and we eat dinner frequently at a nice waterfront bar with a dock. Usually there are at least 3-5 ships anchored within a few miles of said dock. I never did get why I never see any crews from the ships at the bar. Are they essentially prisoners?
Our oyster fleet used to do that because the crews would desert. They had supply boats to take them food and take oysters back to shore. The crews were frequently shanghaied from Baltimore bars and would sometimes be “payed off with the boom” when oyster season was over. This all ended around the dawn of the 20th century!

If the ships are anchored, there may not be a launch services hired to bring anyone ashore.

After about a week staring at the bar I would hire my own damn launch or swim over.

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Don’t always have that option. Vessels may not have cleared immigration.

In Busan, South Korea the launch service charged the company & crew $500US one way in the early 2000’s. I never expected or asked a company to pay for me to go to shore to sight see or recharge. Launch bills can get big real fast. But I have done what yatch_sailor suggested & shared the launch fee with shipmates to get to shore. The best option to avoid getting killed by the launch service is to wave down small fishing boats or coordinating shore leave to coincide with the FRC & boat drills.

Pity merchies don’t carry liberty boats… :wink:

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The crew on those ships are likely not making enough to afford paying for a US launch themselves.

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I pay $5, but where I moor is within a mile of the water taxi dock. I should ask what they would charge to go all the way out to the deep water anchorage.

Well it would appear that the Majority of posters are in agreement that Sailing and Shore Leave should be a package deal. It’s been that way for thousands of years so just Leave it the Heck alone! I suppose the only thing to do now is to fight it!! So if your reading this and your tired of the Corporate Bastards taking our Freedom and privalege away then Please take a stand and tell them you aren’t going to put up with it! Come together as a crew and tell your Captain you demand shore leave or your all walking off!! Remember that they need us as much as we need them. It’s so easy for them to take away our freedom! They don’t have to walk in our shoes. They don’t even have to see us most of the time. Nobody is going to change this but us Guys! In the end I think we will win because they will continue to make it more and more miserable to the point where it’s just not worth the money!

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I didn’t know that the pay was that bad on US ships.
Or are you ASSUMING that any ships anchored off a US port must be flying the flag of Bolivia or Mongolia??

I would never assume that. I’ve never noticed ships of either of those flags.

I KNOW for a FACT that most ships anchored off US ports are Liberia, Panama, Marshall Islands, Monrovia, etc.

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SIU Standard Freightship Agreement Sec 40 Page 16

SECTION 40. LAUNCH SERVICE. When a ship is anchored or tied up to a buoy for eight (8) hours or over,for the purpose outlined in Article II, Section 34, each member of the Unlicensed Personnel while on his watch below shall be allowed one (1) round trip to shore at the Company’s expense every twenty-four (24) hours.

The Master shall use his own judgment and, if in his opinion, the conditions are not safe, he shall not provide launch service. However, he shall, as usual, make his entries in the log as to the weather conditions and advise the Ship’s Chairman accordingly. He shall get other data, if possible, such as weather reports to further back his decision.

When launch service is arranged for by the Company, the schedule shall be such that each and every member shall be given opportunity for a round trip as called for herein on his watch below.

In ports where regular boat service is not available, members of the Unlicensed Personnel
may make their own arrangements for transportation and the Company agrees to reimburse either the crew member or the owner of the boat up to ten dollars ($10.00) per round trip per man carried once every twenty-four (24) hours.

Also - Sec 36 Restricted to ship

SECTION 36. RESTRICTION TO SHIP.
When a vessel has been in a foreign port where the crew was restricted to the ship and the Company claims that this restriction was enforced by the government of the port visited or either Federal, Military or Naval Authorities, the Company shall produce a copy of the restriction order of the government, Federal, Military or Naval Authorities. In lieu thereof, it may produce a proper entry in the official log book and must give sufficient notice in writing of the restriction to the Ship’s Chairman. The notice shall also be posted on the crew’s bulletin board. A letter from the Company’s agents will not be sufficient proof of the existence of such an order. If the Company is unable to produce evidence as provided herein to satisfy the Union of the validity of such restriction, the Unlicensed Personnel shall be compensated for having been restricted to the ship by the payment of overtime for the period of the restriction at the applicable Penalty Rate.
When a restriction occurs because of quarantine immigration or customs procedures, a proper log entry shall suffice.

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Are you then assuming that the crew on ships under FOC flags are not entitled to launch service when at anchor in a place where shore leave is granted, or wanted?

BTW; Monrovia is the capital of Liberia.

What in my statement makes you think that?

Oh wait, I forgot you’re just a troll who hates Americans so you spin everything to make us look bad.

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Yes, my mistake.

Been reading this lack of shore leave for awhile. The question comes to my mind is this. Which owners are restricting shore leave, where and why? The names of the ship or tug company owners would shed more light as would the country they fear the crew going to shore in. There may be a legitimate safety or immigration issue but most commercial ports have never been anything to brag about, hence their allure to those who take to sea to make a wage.
When I started sailing one of the perks was seeing other countries and cultures. Of course you can’t do that on a RoRo and tankers can be problematic but if one is tied to a pier and will be for over 24 hours ? Third world slaves on fishing vessels are routinely kept aboard by the owners and management, for good reason. But other vessels? I must be missing something here or sailors have become sheep.

We’ve been told it’s a shoreside policy on US ports. When we’re on the boat it’s for 2 weeks unless we go to our yard for grub

“Shoreside” means the company decides you cannot go ashore in US ports? I assume you are not a US citizen. Going to your yard for food/grub is not a term I am familiar with. Help me and others not familiar with some of the terminology to understand…

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I am a US citizen as is the entire crew. If the terminal has a policy that we can’t go through the terminal then we can’t. The USCG won’t make them allow us through. I’ve had terminals in Houston refuse to allow us to bring groceries on board unless we load them by launch, this was for a about 6 large duffel bags.

It means tie up at the company’s dock and go get groceries.