One more crazy story about abandonment and how seafarers are treated:
Capt.Kara:
It is happening all too often and all over the world:
Another sad story from Egypt:
How can this happen and go on in 2021??
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Rhetorical question, right?
Itâs because no one in any government, shipping, or finance gives a shit about mariners. Why some politician doesnât see the opportunity to make some money by selling the ship and giving the crew half the cash while his government keeps the remainder is beyond me.
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This is the answer.
Sieze it. Repatriate the crew with full payment. Sell/scrap the vessel to recoup those costs (and then some).
I am really surprised that many of these ships havenât heaved the anchor (that are capable) and sailed to friendlier countries then taken a life boat ashore. I completely get that staying on board as a protest and to try and collect wages is on their mind, but at some point they have to realize they are chasing a pipe dream and say âTo hell with it, Iâm going home and finding a new line of workâ.
The optimist in me just canât imagine that ANY customs office or government authorities in any âfriendlyâ country would turn them back or that there arenât organizations that would help. They canât get them paid, but they can get them home.
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On the surface, that makes sense to those of us who have had the privilege of working for first world nations, with many of us under union contract or otherwise working for decent companies. But we have to remember that most of the worldâs seafarers are from poor nations. Walking away from the ship may very well mean loss of credential and loss of livelihood. In fact, that threat was used on Bouchard mariners right here in the good ole USA.
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Thatâs a bit like saying that ships sink because the sea gets really furious. Enslaving and exploiting one another is deeply ingrained in human nature. Expecting the ruling classes to give a shit about mariners is analogous to expecting the sea to have mercy. We need measures in place to keep bad things from happening.
I say itâs because there is no personal accountability. Shipowners carry on like this because they are protected by corrupt nation states, in turn because ours is not the buttered side of the toast. I really love the idea of someone like The Punisher with a twist of Popeye dragging the fat cats kicking and screaming out of their safe havens, to leave them naked at the mercy of the downtrodden.
Entertaining though they may be, my ideas about vigilante justice are probably far less practical than a political solution. As you say, politicians should be incentivized to quickly and efficiently sell off offending vessels, preferrably through some kind of international legal framework. Obviously this only solves the issue for larger vessels with significant scrap value, but itâd be a start.
For one, the ships we are talking about are rarely capable of keeping the lights on, much less going anywhere. Additionally, such a course of action would likely not turn out to the benefit of those involved. As @catherder points out, the crew would probably never work in the industry again, and they may not have any other options. There is also the fact that they would be guilty of theft, and would face legal consequences in most parts of the world.
Perhaps the IMO would host a publicly accessible web page where national maritime authorities could post the name, flag, and IMO number of an abandoned vessel. If after 30 days notice on that site no owner has corrected the abandonment issue the port state would be permitted to sieze and sell the vessel.
There never seems to be any kickback when the government siezes and sells a vessel caught smuggling drugs* so why should abandonment be any different.
- Except when the ship is owned by a major shipping company and the drug haul is large enough such as the MSC Gayane or another of the Maersk fleet.
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The ILO already has such a database.
https://www.ilo.org/dyn/seafarers/seafarersBrowse.list?p_lang=en
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It is amazing how long some of those crews were (are) left hanging before the abandonment is reported.
I think that if a ship is still in port for some unusual period after arrival and there is no valid and verifiable reason for the departure delay and the crew reports issues with pay then it should be considered abandoned and reported as such. That should start the clock on seizure and sale.
Its difficult sometimes, you have to remember not every ship owner is wealthy, some have to rely on their vessel charters and day rates to almost break even. It is like any business, sometimes owners get into financial trouble because of lower rates, vessel not being chartered, etc, and try to secure finance for such vessel. The problem being is that this is a vessel, and not some typical office where people can go home at night while the executives secure finance for the business. They are trying to get money to sail the vessel and pay wages. Not every owner is deceitful, some just fall on hard times, which then also fall on the crew, because again its a vessel and you can not just leave and go home for certain reasons.
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The crew and the residents of the local port community should not have to subsidize the operation of a business that cannot pay its bills.
Do you think the shipowner has been forced to live in his car and visit food banks to survive?
I own a business, if I donât pay my bills or the people I hire to work for me I would be out of business and working alone very quickly.
It should NEVER be âdifficultâ for the crew. Making it âdifficultâ for the crew must be defined as a crime in every port state.
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The US government does this on a regular basis.
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I donât know how you would call a someone that owns a multimillion dollar asset (or has the means to procure a loan for said asset (or provide other collateral) ânot wealthyâ. Weâre not talking about an uber driver here.
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There seems to be no shortage of apologists for every style of crime. It takes a peculiar type to post an excuse for an owner who abandons a ship full of mariners on a marinerâs forum. A particularly saddening kind of troll.
I didnât want to say it but it read like a âWonât someone think of the poor poor SHIP OWNERS!â thing.
Which brings up another thingâŚ
Given the sheer number or shell companies involved and no telling how many sub sub sub owners there may be (THE actual owner, disponent owner, long term charters, then technical managers, crewing agencies, etc etc etc) it may be impossible to track down who is actually responsible.
You could, maybe, given enough timeâŚBut thatâs likely to take years if not decades of investigation.
Which is why I said âthat are ableâ.
At some point, sunk cost fallacy for these guys has to kick in and say âscrew itâ and take their chances going to shore. Itâs probably not a stretch to say that a local jail is probably better than being stuck on a boat getting eaten by roaches and rats.
If âFreighter Captainâ is actually a true story, one big job of the captain seems to be keeping the crew from jumping ship while not paying them.
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My suggestion for an abandoned crew? Youâll never be paid anyway so take as much of value off the ship as you can. Scuttle the damn thing, plead ignorance and leave. If the ship starts sinking and spewing oily waste some official will show up and arrange for rescue. Whatâs the worst that can happen? Get deported back home which is where you want to be anyway?