[ad_1]
ABANDONED: It is said that the bailiff took a mortgage on the ship “Diavlos Force”. The crew has returned home. Photo: Norwegian Maritime Directorate
The Norwegian Maritime Directorate revealed this fall that the crew of a ship registered in Panama had not been paid for six months.
This is stated by the management in a press release.
One of the management inspectors in Ålesund verified, among other things, the salary payments of the vessel “Diavlos Force” in connection with a port state inspection. According to management, this inspection showed that the crew had not been paid for six months.
– The case of the ship registered in Panama shows that it is important that we also review working and living conditions when we are on board ships, something we are doing now to a greater extent than a few years ago. If you have good and orderly conditions on board, it also increases safety, says Alf Tore Sørheim, who heads the operational supervision department at the Norwegian Maritime Directorate.
Inspector Syver Grepstad from the International Transport Workers ‘Federation (Transport Workers’ Federation) says the families of seafarers on board contacted them due to non-payment.
– There were no terrible living conditions on board, the main gap in the case was that they did not receive a salary for half a year. It is clear that for Filipino seafarers who have families at home who depend on transfers, this is devastating. They also couldn’t afford to buy their own tickets at home, Grepstad told VG.
THE INSPECTORS: Here inspectors from the Norwegian Transport Workers’ Union and the Norwegian Maritime Directorate address the “Diavlos Force” which is located on the Ålesund pier. Photo: Private
Management states that after much work, the crew were allowed to go home and have now been paid for four months.
– It goes against forced sale
– We arrested the ship on behalf of the sailors and started a lawsuit against the insurance company, says Grepstad, adding that the crew came from the Philippines, India, Indonesia, Russia and Greece.
It states that a rule change from 2017 means that everyone who owns a boat must have insurance that also covers abandonment of the boat. It also covers the possibility of being paid a salary for four months and the crew having the opportunity to return home.
– It took about four weeks from the pier to Ålesund before we put them on a plane home and then on four months’ salary, says Grepstad.
Before the Transport Workers’ Union came on the scene, he says, the crew had been told if they had to waive all wage demands if they just jumped ship.
– It is going towards a forced sale of the boat, but due to the complicated ownership conditions, it takes a long time, says Grepstad.
Sørheim in management states that the vast majority of inspections show, fortunately, that the majority of seafarers have good working and living conditions.
– But even so, there are still too many cases in the course of a year that show that there are still shipping companies that do not take their seafarers seriously. These are the ones we purposefully work to find and stop, says Sørheim.
The Directorate inspects around 550 foreign ships a year and issues orders related to living and working conditions about 120 times a year. On foreign ships, approx. Five percent of these findings are related to deficiencies in wages, employment contracts, and work and rest time.
On Norwegian flagged ships, around 600 inspections are carried out per year, focusing directly on the working conditions on board. On average, the Norwegian Maritime Authority issues around 400 requests for living and working conditions annually. Most of them concern matters related to the furniture on board.
