2022/2023 – YANGTZE FORTUNE
On 2 December 2022, Federal Court Admiralty Marshal effected an arrest of the vessel for outstanding debts due to commercial disputes and owed wages. AMSA monitored the crew welfare on board the vessel and worked with the Admiralty Marshal to ensure that crew welfare and entitlements were maintained.
On 5 January 2023, AMSA in consultation with the vessel’s flag state Liberia and the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) issued a notice of abandonment 1 to the International Labour Organization (ILO) as the seafarers were owed more than 2 months of wages. This is the first time that AMSA has had to issue an abandonment notice. On 23 January 2023, all seafarers were repatriated home and on 5 June 2023, all seafarers received all their outstanding wages.
Protecting and upholding seafarer welfare remains a high priority for AMSA .
2023 – WOOYANG VENUS
AMSA received a complaint from the ITF regarding quality of provisions, inadequate hours of rest and bullying allegations onboard the vessel. AMSA inspected the vessel and found objective evidence to substantiate the complaint, including poor quality of provisions, seafarers’ hours of work and rest were being falsified, shipboard working arrangements did not reflect actual watchkeeping hours as well as evidence the Master had physically assaulted a seafarer onboard. Deficiencies were issued and the vessel was subsequently detained.
A Rectification Action Plan (RAP) was required to ensure the deficiencies were followed up. The company provided a RAP which included granting a crew member’s request to be repatriated, forming a catering committee to prevent and ensure adequate provisions were provided onboard, distributing circulars to their fleets regarding the handling of crew complaints as well as education on complying with seafarers’ hours of work and rest and maintaining accurate records to reflect actual hours worked. The RAP was accepted to AMSA’s satisfaction prior to the vessel being released from detention.
2023 – MSXT EMILY
In August 2023, AMSA received a complaint from the ITF that there were insufficient provisions onboard as well as issues with wages and hours of work and rest. AMSA inspected the vessel and found evidence the seafarers were not being paid at monthly intervals in accordance with their respective Seafarer Employment Agreement (SEA), and evidence their signatures on the SEAs were forged and seafarers being coerced to signing new SEA with lower salaries. The vessel was subsequently detained and banned from Australian waters for one year.
The wages recovered was approximately A$76,890 and was paid in full to the seafarers prior to the vessel being released from detention. AMSA also notified the Liberian flag State, and the port State of the vessel’s next port of call, Japan.
Footnotes
1 The MLC (Standard 2.5.2) states that a seafarer “shall be deemed abandoned where, the shipowner:
- fails to cover the cost of the seafarers’ repatriation; or
- has left the seafarer without necessary maintenance and support; or
- has otherwise unilaterally severed ties with the seafarer including failure to pay contractual wages for a period of at least two months”.