Crew received emergency assistance
Norwegian authorities have arrested the cargo ship MS “Torvind”, with a crew that has not been paid for three months and is having to ration rice on board. Today they received emergency aid:
It was Chief Engineer Andreas Farstad on board the tugboat “Buddy” who tipped off Bypatrioten about the conditions the crews were living under.
Andreas Farstad is an engineer on board the tugboat “Buddy”. He warned of a desperate situation for the crew on board the “Torvind”.
Quite desperate
“It was quite distressing to witness,” says Farstad, who was on duty aboard “Buddy” when owner Buksér and Berging were instructed to tow the ship into custody. Farstad was aboard “Torvind” at the time.
“They had no water, no clean tanks, no food, and it had clearly been like that for a while. There was no doubt that they were in a difficult situation,” says the engineer, who called Bypatrioten for good advice. He had not imagined that it would happen so quickly.
Barely a minute after the conversation with Andreas Farstad, we called one of the well over two hundred members of the network for a better city, Eurospar. Store manager Karl Johan Vegsundrabb at Eurospar Moa immediately agreed to load the goods into the store’s van, to head towards the place where “Torvind” was in custody.
City patriot and driver at Eurospar, Cecilie Oplenskedal Olsen, found the cargo ship and eventually made contact with the crew, who were more than happy to help.
“We are five people in the crew, and we are all from Syria,” says the only one in the crew who knows English. They do not want their names to be published. One of the crew said it was okay to be photographed.
Rationing food
-The ship has a Greek owner, and every week the shipping company has told us that next week we will receive wages and food. But nothing has come. We have not received wages for three months. Personally, I was able to borrow some from a friend. But it has to be paid back.
-What about their families?
-They are at home and can’t do anything but wait. I have family both in Belgium where I live, and in Syria. We have no way to travel until we get paid, and at home the bills are piling up. We hope that eventually the ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation) can help us, he says.
“Now we are rationing the little rice we have. It has been a long time since we have eaten meat,” he says. There on the quay it is clear that the crew is grateful. At the same time, three proud Syrians come down to carry, after having received permission from the captain. They receive help they have not asked for, but which is clearly welcome. However, they have little respect left for the shipping company.
The crew says they set sail for Greece, but ran into problems and had to seek help from the Coast Guard. Without engine power, the ship drifted towards land in bad weather on Christmas Day.
“It is this rescue operation that has led to our arrest. The shipping company has not paid the bills. We have heard the amount, and it is not a huge sum. They could have arranged this quickly, because they have money,” he says.
Good to have help.
Cecilie Oplenskedal Olsen parks the van and opens it so that the crew can carry the goods on board the ship.
-They said they were very happy with what we came up with. It was good to hear. After all, we are talking about people, and unfortunately we hear about such situations from time to time. Then it is good to be able to help, and to see that it is well received.
-What did you have in the boxes?
-A little different food. Rice, fruit, vegetables and not least they get meat. They’ve been missing that for a while. Also several liters of water they can drink, she says.
“This was just desperate. Without pay for three months, and without rights. I’m incredibly happy to hear that they got some emergency help now,” says Farstad, who emphasizes that the crew did not complain to him and the others on the tugboat.
-No, they didn’t, but as a sailor myself, it was impossible to avoid seeing and understanding that they needed assistance. It’s about a collegial response, because imagine if it had been the other way around. That some of your people were stuck without pay or the opportunity to get anywhere, because a shipping company cannot meet its obligations. Here I felt I had to speak out, says Farstad.
The crew carries boxes of food, water, and sacks of rice aboard the ship they are stranded on.
The bailiff in Ålesund, Thomas Hammervold, can confirm that the shipping company is struggling to fulfill its obligations.
-Yes, the boat is under arrest. The basis is a judgment from the District Court following a claim from the Norwegian Coastal Administration against the shipping company, says Hammervold about what has been an ongoing case since the turn of the year.
-As the rules are, the responsibility for both ship and crew lies with the shipping company, says Hammervold, who has great understanding for the desperate situation the crew is in. He also confirms that the international organization ITF has been contacted and has established contact with the crew.
MS “Torvind” has been taken into custody. The crew must remain here until the shipping company pays out the wages they are owed.
Source: Mannskap fikk nødhjelp | Bypatrioten
Google translation.
M/V Torvind seen here at her former berth in Ålesund:
The cargo ship “Torvind” has now been moved from the dock at Frydenbø in Skarbøvika in Ålesund.
Photo: Staale Wattø, Sunnmørsposten
Source: https://www.smp.no/nyheter/n/k0w9xk/namsmannen-flyttet-torvind-har-fortsatt-ikke-betalt