Latvian crew are ‘prisoners’ on ship

THE International Transport Federation (ITF) has claimed 11 crew members onboard a ship off the Louth coast are effectively prisoners, unable to go home to Latvia or berth in Ireland.

Crew members of the Latvian-registered ship refused six weeks ago to move from the quay wall of Greenore harbour until they were paid salaries withheld from them for the previous four months. The 2,000-tonne bulk freighter was carrying 1,750 tonnes of steel bars destined for the Irish market and the ship’s crew refused to move it.

The ITF succeeded in obtaining arrears of pay for the men up to the end of March but the strike action continued until the guarantee of continued pay and conditions was secured.

However, the crew were persuaded to unload the Fortuna’s cargo of steel bars while their ITF representative Ken Fleming was involved in helping the crew of another vessel, and before he returned it was ordered to leave Greenore Harbour. Since then it has remained moored at the entrance to Carlingford Lough.

The ship was inspected on April 4 by the Department of Transport, which found it not to be seaworthy due to inadequacies in the ventilation system and lifeboats.

The ITF said the ship is now being prevented from re-entering Greenore because authorities believe the ship’s owners cannot pay berthing fees and it will take up valuable berthing space.

It cannot return to Latvia because the nation’s embassy has told the ITF they will not let it berth as licences have expired. Mr Fleming said: “What makes the situation on the Fortuna worse is the lack of co-operation and seeming indifference of the Latvian and Irish authorities to the plight of these 11 seafarers. They have been literally stranded with no immediate hope of being paid or returning home.”

The ITF is demanding that either the ship be re-examined by Irish authorities and allowed to enter an Irish port again, or it is going to the High Court to have the boat seized so the crew can be taken off and sent home.