Watchdog seeks arrest of Latvian ship over debt to crew
The Defender, with a crew of seven Ukrainians and two Russians, came into port in Passage West with a cargo of timber yesterday. The International Transport Federation, acting on a tip-off, boarded the boat and spoke to its crew members. He found out that some of the men had not been paid for up to six months. The captain had not been paid in seven months.
With a salary of $5,500 (e4,400) per month, he was owed $38,500. Of the nine crew, eight signed over power of attorney to the ITF’s Ken Fleming to allow him to seek payment of the wages.
Onboard, Mr Fleming was also told by the crew that there was only enough food for five days and there was no money to buy more.
Mr Fleming contacted the ship’s owners Forestry Shipping in Latvia and demanded all outstanding monies be paid to the men. He estimated that with compensation, repatriation and penalties included, the company owed more than $100,000.
“I have given them until 10.30am this morning. If by then they have not indicated how they will get the money to here, I will be seeking the arrest of the vessel in the High Court in Dublin this afternoon.”
This morning he will also get a ship’s surveyor to assess how much the vessel is worth if he needs to sell it in order to recoup the money owed to the men.
This is the second time the Defender has been caught in a Cork port with a crew to which Forestry Shipping owed thousands of euro.
Last year the vessel was detained by Irish customs when they discovered e45,000 worth of unaccounted for cigarettes onboard. Mr Fleming was able to secure $92,500 for four of the crew, which at that stage was worth e58,000.
