INTERNATIONAL livestock carrier ship, the Yangtze Fortune, has been detained by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority in Portland, Victoria, after its owner failed to pay its crew or meet its obligations under international maritime law, reports Bangalore's Marine Insight.
The ship has been anchored near Portland since October and is subject to an abandonment notice from the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
It is also subject to Australian Federal Court proceedings from commercial creditors in Singapore to recover debts.
Many of the ship's crew are desperate to return home but stay with the ship while court action and the ship's sale process unfold.
The International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) Australian inspectorate coordinator Ian Bray declared that 30 crew members had been abandoned by their employer on the stranded ship.
'These workers are already owed, collectively, more than a quarter of a million dollars in unpaid wages, and while the court action is afoot, they must stay with their ship despite the ever-diminishing prospect of receiving what is owed to them,' said Mr Bray.
Shipboard documentation shows that the crew received only one-third of what they were owed in October.
Furthermore, the crew's wages payments in September and August were made using monies set aside for workers' leave entitlements and the company's provident fund.
ITF Australia's assistant coordinator Matt Purcell stated that five crew members had already clocked up eight months aboard the vessel and were desperate to return home to their families.
'These vulnerable, exploited crew face the prospect of spending months longer aboard this ship in dreadful conditions just to get what's already owed to them, or the choice of returning home after eight or nine months away with nothing to show for it,' said Mr Purcell.
Mr Bray declared that the Yangtze Fortune represents a broader problem in the livestock shipping industry where crews go unpaid, and ships operate on the precipice of insolvency.
'We believe there is an epidemic of borderline insolvency among the operators of these livestock ships as they repeatedly feature among the worst cases in our inspections around Australia and internationally,' said Mr Bray.
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The ship has been anchored near Portland since October and is subject to an abandonment notice from the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
It is also subject to Australian Federal Court proceedings from commercial creditors in Singapore to recover debts.
Many of the ship's crew are desperate to return home but stay with the ship while court action and the ship's sale process unfold.
The International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) Australian inspectorate coordinator Ian Bray declared that 30 crew members had been abandoned by their employer on the stranded ship.
'These workers are already owed, collectively, more than a quarter of a million dollars in unpaid wages, and while the court action is afoot, they must stay with their ship despite the ever-diminishing prospect of receiving what is owed to them,' said Mr Bray.
Shipboard documentation shows that the crew received only one-third of what they were owed in October.
Furthermore, the crew's wages payments in September and August were made using monies set aside for workers' leave entitlements and the company's provident fund.
ITF Australia's assistant coordinator Matt Purcell stated that five crew members had already clocked up eight months aboard the vessel and were desperate to return home to their families.
'These vulnerable, exploited crew face the prospect of spending months longer aboard this ship in dreadful conditions just to get what's already owed to them, or the choice of returning home after eight or nine months away with nothing to show for it,' said Mr Purcell.
Mr Bray declared that the Yangtze Fortune represents a broader problem in the livestock shipping industry where crews go unpaid, and ships operate on the precipice of insolvency.
'We believe there is an epidemic of borderline insolvency among the operators of these livestock ships as they repeatedly feature among the worst cases in our inspections around Australia and internationally,' said Mr Bray.
SeaNews Turkey