INCREASE IN SHIPS ABANDONED AND SAILORS STRANDED
▶ Federal Transport Authority has threatened to blacklist owners who have been withholding wages, but number of dumped vessels is still growing
are going months without wages as more ships are being abandoned off the UAE, a senior transport official said.
Despite errant owners being warned by the Federal Transport Authority, the number of sailors being stranded without food, water and fuel has increased over the past year.
The authority said it was dealing with 14 abandoned ships and about 50 unpaid sailors. This is separate from 100 sailors with outstanding salaries from 15 ships whose situations have been resolved with the help of consulate officials and aid workers.
“We have noticed in the last six months an increase of abandoned ships in UAE waters and ports, especially offshore supply vessels, which have been affected negatively by the low oil price,” said Abdulla Al Kathiri, general manager at the Federal Transport Authority.
“Oil companies are delaying or cancelling some of their expansion agreements.
“The UAE maritime law is very strict when it comes to issues related to crew wages and if the owner fails to fulfil his obligation toward his crew, his ship can be arrested by the court and sold at auction to pay the crew wages.
“An owner repeating such offensives will be blacklisted and will not be allowed to operate again in UAE waters.”
To streamline the process and weed out companies with poor track records, there are plans to route operating licences through one federal authority instead of through local authorities in different emirates.
“As this stage those companies are getting their licences from local authorities in the UAE,” Mr Al Kathiri said. “We are working now to ensure there will be no maritime activities licensed in the UAE without getting a no-objection from the authority, where we can control the licensing process of the maritime companies.”
The authority has the power to seize the ship and put its owners and agents on a black list, but it prefers negotiation.
In recent months, the authority has worked with the Indian consulate and other missions, such as those of the Philippines and Sri Lanka, to help sailors return home with their pay.
Indian consul general Vipuland his team worked with the authority to repatriate about 90 sailors in the past two months.
At least six ships remain with 35 Indian crew members, who have not been paid for between nine and 17 months.
“There are still some ships in extremely distressed conditions where the working conditions are bad and Indian sailors are stuck with pending salaries,” Mr Vipul said.
“Sailors are ill on some ships and it’s very difficult to resolve some cases, because agents and owners use all kinds of means to abandon their responsibility,” Mr Vipul said.
“We are looking at legal options, but they are time-consuming, so we are working with the authority to help these seafarers expeditiously.”
Mr Al Kathiri said that although the authority could cancel the licence and ban the ship from UAE waters, this would impede payments to sailors.
“However, this an option we have and we can use when we don’t see any co-operation from the owner,” he said.
“The main concern for us is to solve the seafarer’s dilemma and ensure they are repatriated back to their country safely. If the owner is facing financial difficulty or is in prison, as in some cases, fines will not solve the problems of the crew.
“Cancelling owners’ licences will not solve the seafarers’ issues. The most important thing is to work with owners to solve the problem, and we have managed in this way to solve many cases.”
Aside from the official numbers, relief workers said the numbers of sailors with unpaid wages ran into the hundreds, because crew radio for help only when there is no other recourse.
Paul Burt, regional director of the welfare group Mission to Seafarers, confirmed the trend.
“We go out into the anchorages when there is a specific need, where a crew has no food or water,” Mr Burt said. “Each time we go out we deliver to three or four ships. We do this maybe once a year, but this year and last year the frequency is rising.
“So far this year we have done five to six trips and with the cases we are meeting, we would expect to make another two to three by the end of the year.”
He said the authority’s warning to owners to settle dues was a “constructive and clear demonstration of the UAE authorities’ determination to stamp out sub-standard maritime activity in local waters”.
The authority says it is dealing with 14 abandoned ships and about 50 unpaid sailors