Hull Ship’s Crew ‘Has Had Enough’

30 April 2012

Hull Ship’s Crew ‘Has Had Enough’

The ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation) has been called to assist the crew of the Liberian registered 2,997GT tanker Leon, which is anchored outside the UK port of Hull.

The ITF received calls for assistance when the vessel was alongside but before an inspector could get to the port the ship operator, Roswell Tankers Corp of Athens, Greece, ordered the captain to take it out to anchor to await orders.

“The crew were complaining that they were owed wages and had no fresh food provisions,” explained Nautilus ITF Inspector Tommy Molloy, who took a launch out to the vessel late last week.

“When I boarded the first thing the crew did was take me to the food stores. Most shelves are empty. There is flour for baking bread, sugar, butter; some canned fish, which they claim has been their staple diet for a number of weeks. There was no sign of fresh food apart from some lemons and some chillies. No fresh or frozen meat, poultry or fish, no vegetables and no fruit.”

The crew were also worried about the condition of the fresh water tanks, which they had photographed before they were filled in a previous port. Molloy stated that he verified that there was no bottled water left on board.

“When I asked why food was not brought on board when the vessel was alongside in Hull I was told the company had claimed it was too expensive in the UK.”

“They also complained that they were owed wages since January and that they had each only received USD50 cash on board during that period. A calculation revealed that the total owed at the time I was on board amounted to more than USD58,000 for eleven of the 15 crew who have requested assistance and who wish to be repatriated from the Port of Hull.”

Molloy also has a copy of a medical report from a doctor in Poland for one crew member who has constant stomach pains, which stated that the crew member should ‘go home to his local hospital for longer treatment’. But the company did not repatriate him from either Poland or Hull.

“The company are putting great pressure on the crew to sail the vessel but the 11 crew members are adamant they do not want to sail the vessel anywhere, they just want to be paid their owed wages and repatriated from the UK”, said Molloy. “They are not refusing to work and have made a statement to the effect that they will continue with normal maintenance work, watchkeeping duties, fire fighting, mooring and any other duties that will help maintain the safety of the vessel while they await repatriation from Hull. The company are saying there will be food in the next port and they will look into repatriation for those who want it. They also say that since ITF involvement they have arranged payment of some wages into the crew’s home bank accounts. Neither the crew nor the ITF have verification of this, but even if it is the case, the damage has already been done. The majority of the crew has had enough and is not prepared to sail the vessel any further”.

ENDS

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