Crews Are Abandoned on Ships in Record Numbers Without Pay, Food or a Way Home

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Hat tip, Newser

Crews Are Abandoned on Ships in Record Numbers Without Pay, Food or a Way Home

Failing companies ditch vessels too expensive to repair or too difficult to sell, leaving behind cargo-ship castaways trapped in ports or offshore

By Drew Hinshaw and Joe Parkinson | Photographs by Petrut Calinescu for The Wall Street Journal
https://twitter.com/drewhinshaw
[e-mail]
https://twitter.com/joewsj
[e-mail]
Oct. 8, 2021 9:32 am ET

CONSTANTA, Romania—An engineer stuck on a cargo ship abandoned in a Black Sea port has waited four years to get paid and go home.

Off the coast of Somalia, a crew awaiting pay languishes on a pirate-trawled stretch of the Indian Ocean while their ship slowly takes on water. Another 14 seafarers, stuck on a cargo ship off the coast of Iran, have run out of food and fuel. Some contemplated suicide.

“We cannot survive here,” said an engineer aboard the MV Aizdihar, abandoned off the Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas. “Please help us.” He spoke via video earlier this year, his face drawn.

The $14 trillion shipping industry, responsible for 90% of world trade, has left in its wake what appears to be a record number of cargo-ship castaways. Abandonment cases are counted when shipowners fail to pay crews two or more months in wages or don’t cover the cost to send crew members home, according to the International Maritime Organization, a United Nations agency.

Last year, the number of such cases reported to the agency more than doubled to 85 from 40 in 2019. This year is on track to be worse.

More than 1,000 seafarers are currently abandoned on container ships and bulk carriers, according to estimates by the International Transport Workers’ Federation, a labor union. The true toll is likely higher because many crew members are reluctant to speak out for fear of being blacklisted, according to interviews with seafarers on abandoned vessels, shipowners, agents, maritime organizations and union officials.

Mohamed Arrachedi, the union’s Middle East coordinator, said he wakes up to dozens of WhatsApp messages from distraught sailors around the world: “It’s a global humanitarian crisis.”

{snip}

Write to Drew Hinshaw at [e-mail] and Joe Parkinson at [e-mail]

Copyright ©2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

Appeared in the October 9, 2021, print edition as 'Scores of Ship Crews Are Abandoned.'

[MustLoveBeagles]

1. K&R

[Hortensis]

2. That engineer at the Black Sea port sounds familiar from some time ago.

Of course this problem would have worsened during the pandemic, like all the others, but it was a growing trend before. One young man was finally released after four years from a court order to remain on a ship abandoned in Egypt as its legal guardian. He had to swim to shore for basic provisions.

In total, the database now holds 509 abandonment incidents since it was established in 2004, concerning 6,933 seafarers. Of those incidents, 244 cases were resolved, 121 cases were disputed, and 50 cases were categorised as inactive.

Abandonment occurs when shipowners fail to pay wages for at least two months, or when they fail to cover the cost of repatriation, or they leave the seafarer without maintenance and support.

[Liberty Belle]

3. Why aren't the owners imprisoned for endangering lives of their workers?

[cstanleytech]

6. Probably because the owners have money. nt

[TreasonousBastard]

4. Over 40 years ago I was the last P&I underwriter for the last US...

insurance company to write Protection and Indemnity isurance on blue water vessels.

P&I isurance covers many things, including crew wages, maintenance, health, and transportation home. Unfortunately, it is not required, and the sleazier operators often don't bother buying it. The sleaziest can't get it if they want to. Bankruptcy in shipping is often a marvel that even Slobfather would envy-- I even heard of bankupt operators repainting ships while at sea and reregistering them as new ventures.

[KS Toronado]

5. Made the mistake of clicking on the "Newser" link

Popped up a page selling memory pills, it's already working....I'll remember never to visit their website again.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

8. Newser is total clickbait. I have to acknowledge them as the source, though.

Last edited Sun Oct 10, 2021, 06:42 PM - Edit history (1)

Thanks for writing.

{edited: "though," not "thought"}

[KS Toronado]

9. Shortly after posting the above......

I shut down Google Chrome which I was using, and here's an open Microsoft Edge window selling the same stuff.
Ought to be illegal for anyone to open a new window on someone's computer, let alone search where I've been
on the WWW. Were they using Edge to snoop on Google to get their next ad ready?

[mahatmakanejeeves]

10. Thanks for the warning. I'll have not to acknowledge them in the future, if

that's the way they're going to be.

[keithbvadu2]

7. If the ship was abandoned with no legal owner and non-functional, would it be feasible for the crewm

If the ship was abandoned with no legal owner and non-functional, would it be feasible for the crew members to sell off the equipment and parts for scrap for money to get home?