2020 – AC Sesoda
| In September 2020, AMSA received a complaint regarding wages being withheld from crew on the AC Sesoda. AMSA investigated this claim and found that a number of crew had only been paid half of their wages since October 2019. The vessel attempted to conceal the underpayment by producing a fabricated wage record showing that the crew had been paid in full. During the investigation, however, a second | wage record was found showing that seafarers were being deliberately underpaid while some senior members of crew were being paid above their agreed rates. In total, the equivalent of AUD $118,000 was withheld from the crew. The vessel was detained by AMSA and the operator was directed to pay the outstanding wages. The vessel was then released from detention and banned from Australian ports for a period of 12 months. |
2020 – TW Hamburg
| On Friday 24 July 2020, AMSA boarded the TW Hamburg following correspondence regarding seafarers onboard with expired contracts and requesting repatriation. During the inspection, seafarers approached AMSA claiming that they had been underpaid. Evidence collected during the inspection found that crew were owed approximately AUD $42,000. Crew had two sets of seafarer employment agreements and were being paid based on the agreement that had wages 25% less than the other. | During the inspection, AMSA also found the quality and quantity of food was well below the standards set out by the MLC. The galley and fridges were unclean and the ship had very poor hygiene practices overall. Seafarers were rightly refusing to work under such conditions and were repatriated. Following the inspection, TW Hamburg was banned from entering Australian port for 12 months. |
2020 – Agia Sofia
| On Saturday 25t July 2020, AMSA inspected the Agia Sofia following a complaint received via the International Transport Workers’ Federation. During this inspection, AMSA found evidence of unpaid wages totalling approximately AUD $45,000. This was the second time the company, Marmaras Navigation Ltd, has been found in breach of the MLC. In January 2018 AMSA detained another company | ship, Koundouros, at Port Walcott for owing its seafarers more than AUD $7500. While the Koundouros was not banned, a repeat offence for the company was found to be inexcusable and as a result the Agia Sofia was banned from entering Australian ports for six months. AMSA will continue to closely monitor the operator for any further transgressions. |