Crew abandonment yet again

Another couple of cases of abandoned crew (yet again):

Splash 24/7 has raised this subject in several articles and in different forums:

There is a simple solution to this. Whatever country should just seize the ship, fly the crew home, and demand that the flag state pay the bill. If the flag state fails to pay, its ships can be barred from entry.

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Don’t just sieze it, sell it and give the money to the crew in addition to banning the flag.

Let the bankers try and get their money from the scumbags who are profiting from these crimes against humanity.

Anonymity of beneficial owners and flags of convenience must end.

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Why would you ban the Flag? That is absolutely ludicrous, because the owner could literally re-flag the vessel or any other in their fleet, then enter the same country port and do it all over again.
Flag states and P&I work with the seafarers to repatriate crew to the appropriate home countries. It is the owners and managers at fault.

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Because if the anonymity of beneficial ownership was ended, flag states would know instantly which scumbags to ban from entry to their registry. How is that ludicrous?

The risk to a flag would be too great to deal with owners who pull this crap. If nothing else, other owners and NVOCs already know who the scumbags arem they would have more reason to avoid using them because the stink would stick to them as well.

The only reason this abandonment issue exists today is because the owners find it so easy to hide and evade any responsibility and the bankers and flag states don’t stand to lose a dime.

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Here is another case in the news now. 6 years on a ship without pay?? Unbelievable:


This one is flying Nigerian flag, which is not an open register, or FOC:

How about posting a bond to fund a flight home for your crew in order to enter the port?
This is done for yachts in some countries that got tired of having hippies with no jobs show up and never leave.

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Jim said in his affidavit that MT Tumini was in dire need of repairs and since it was abandoned, the Guyanese crew remained on board because they were not paid their wages.

Immigration officers visited them monthly to update their status when they vowed they were not leaving until they were paid. Using a dingy, they came to shore and bought groceries while residents helped them with drinking water.

They could have left, but stayed on to get the ship sold and get their wages. Still awful, but not stuck there like you might think.

A new book entitled “Arrested and Detained Vessels, and Abandoned Seafarers” has been published. It give guidelines on how to handle such situations for both welfare organisations and local authorities in ports where this happens:
https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/new-guidance-on-arrested-and-detained-vessels-and-abandoned-seafarers/

And it is happening with disturbing regularity. Here is one of the worst cases:

Crew abandonment has increased despite more attention being given to the problem:


Hopefully it has peaked and not just another record year.

This in Charleston South Carolina today!

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And in Malaysia:


It will probably worsen with the present pandemic crisis in Shipping.

Since mid-March seems long enough to sieze the vessel, sell it for scrap, and let the crew divide the proceeds.

That approach should become the world-wide standard for dealing with ship and crew abandonment.

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Some don’t just sit and wait meekly for help, or for a solution to their predicament:

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ILO GIS project shows where these abandoned crews are now. Who’s near your home-port? I have Lyubov Orlova, Cook Islands, 50 Russians and 2 Ukrainians. Which seems to have sunk some years back? ILO may need to clean their data better.

And here I am worried about wether or not I’m filling out these stupid Work Rest hour sheets probably

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A new year and more crew abandonments:

Crews are never abandoned in Ibiza or Cancun…

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And few of my international jobs has involved going to places like that. . .well, except for one. I did a salvage job offshore the southern Yucatan a long time ago. Flew in and out of Cancun, but it was a two hour drive to where we were based. And, while not Ibiza, I did handle a claim in Tarragona about 10 years ago. I was also on a ship that was arrested (but not abandoned) in Manila in the 70s. That wasn’t too tough to take. . . .

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