Off Victoria, a ship caught in wave of uncertainty

Hanjin Vienna stuck off Victoria for seven weeks

A jogger traverses Clover Point Park on Dallas Road, about six kilometres north of the Hanjin Vienna. The container ship has been anchored for seven weeks at Constance Bank in Juan de Fuca Strait. The ship and its crew are caught in a wave of uncertainty after South Korea’s Hanjin Shipping went into receivership this summer. Despite that, the crew is being well looked after, according to a global organization that assists seafarers.

Local residents concerned about the welfare of crew members on the container ship Hanjin Vienna reached for their telephones 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 pre-paid 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, California, terminal and has put other assets up for sale.

The Vienna is not owned by Hanjin. It is 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 on 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-cared-for — including provision and their payment.”

Although Murray understood that the crew was solely from the Philippines, Wiebe said there are also crew members from Germany, Poland and Ukraine.

As well as taking care of the crew and the ship, “as a matter of course, the Nautical and Technical Department of NSB are in close contact with the captain, as well as with representatives of ITF [the International Transport Workers’ Federation], and all involved authorities,” Wiebe said.

“The vessel is safe and there does not exist any risk for our seafarers. During the anchoring period off Vancouver, provisions have been delivered and crew changes have been performed.”

Wiebe said NSB could not provide any information about the cargo on board the Vienna.

The Vienna’s owner is in negotiations with Hanjin about the money it is owed, Wiebe said.

“NSB is making assiduous efforts to clarify the situation with Hanjin and to make the vessel proceed [on] her voyage.”