Australian authorities detained the bulk carrier, Costanza on the charges of unpaid wages, refusal to provide shore access to seafarers, and not changing the crew periodically. The vessel was later released from detainment and banned from Australia for three months after the ship operator complied with the authorities and paid all the workers in full along with taking other necessary steps.
The maritime labor convention infringements were discovered by the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) and were reported to the Australian authorities. The information provided by the ITF was reviewed by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA), and the vessel Costanza was detained. The detainment took place at the Kooragang 10 wharf, when the vessel had arrived from Japan.
ITF stated that the crew of 21 members is due back pay from August through October, which amounted to $108,000. After conversing with the crew and reviewing the records, AMSA found that the crew was also underpaid by about 20%. ITF inspector Dan Crumlin, states that the crew has not been off the ship for around 11 months. The ITF believes that this is a violation of the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) clauses for not providing shore leave and crew changes.
The crewmembers were misinformed that Covid restrictions were still ongoing and hence shore leave was banned in Newcastle.
After the detainment, the ship’s operator, Orient Line Corp of Japan complied with AMSA and paid all the workers their due wages along with taking the other necessary steps. Although the vessel was released, it is still banned from operating in Australia for three months due to the MLC violations.
The opinions expressed herein are the author’s and not necessarily those of News2Sea.