Crew on Hanjin ship treated well, agency says
STUCK IN LIMBO: German company that owns container ship is taking ‘top-notch care’ of stranded sailors
VICTORIA — Local residents concerned about the welfare of crew members on the container ship Hanjin Vienna reached for their phones when they learned the vessel was stuck in limbo in waters off Victoria.
“The phone rang off the hook,” said Kathryn Murray, manager of the Mission to Seafarers office in Vancouver.
The mission is a global organization that assists mariners.
Callers said: “I can see the ship. What can I do?” Murray said.
“Normally I would say: ‘All hands on deck, this is an emergency,’ but not this time.”
That is because the representatives of the German-flagged vessel are taking top-notch care of the crew, Murray said.
Supplies have been prepaid and delivered to the ship, she said. “This company has looked after everything. I have never seen anything like this.”
She has her own message to the public: “Thank you to everybody that has really cared.”
The ship and its crew are caught in the middle of the financial collapse of Korea’s Hanjin Shipping, once the seventh-largest container-shipping company in the world.
It went into receivership at the end of August, and creditors are seeking billions of dollars.
Hanjin is in talks to sell its share of the Long Beach, Calif, terminal and has put other assets up for sale.
The Vienna isn’t owned by Hanjin. It’s owned by a German firm and is managed by Reederei NSB, also of Germany, which is taking care of the vessel.
Even so, the 279-metre Hanjin Vienna was deemed to be under arrest Sept. 1 when it was at Deltaport Terminal at Roberts Bank.
It was then permitted to leave Vancouver and anchor at Constance Bank, off Dallas Road.
The ship was allowed to return to Vancouver for supplies a couple of weeks ago before returning to Constance Bank. It has been there seven weeks.
Murray, who has spoken to a ship representative, said: “They have looked after all the needs of the seafarers, even by bringing our chaplains on board by water taxi a couple of times.”
She said the representative said he received 450 emails in a week from people who were worried about the crew members.
Murray recalled a past situation when a different ship was anchored off Vancouver for eight months: “We had to take out food and water. We had to go out there all the time.”
Bettina Wiebe, head of corporate communications for NSB, said in an email from Germany: “All 22 crew members are safe and well-caredfor — including provision and their payment.”