Official predicts end of shipping firm as vessel held
Ken Fleming, an inspector with the International Transport Federation (ITF), has twice detained the MV Defender in Cork after finding that its crew had not been paid for seven months. In 2008 he succeeded in securing thousands of euro in unpaid wages for the Eastern European crew from the ship’s owners Forestry Shipping.
However, last March the ship left Irish waters even though the company had not paid €80,000 owing to its seven Ukrainian and two Russian crew.
In July another boat belonging to Forestry Shipping, the Linda sailed into Dundalk port and the eight crew went on strike saying they were owed €42,000 between them.
Now both the Defender and the Fairland, which also belongs to Forestry Shipping, have been formally arrested at the request of the ITF in Holland because of the money owed to their crews. If the company does not come forward with the owed wages within two weeks the ships will be auctioned off to the highest bidder and the money given to the crew.
Mr Fleming said: “That is now three ships belonging to Forestry Shipping which are out of circulation. That means we are more than likely to succeed in putting Forestry Shipping out of business.”
Mr Fleming made the claim as he attended an international maritime conference in Cork.
Delegates from across the world converged on the Metropole Hotel in the city yesterday for the three-day Global Networks Terminals seminar at which they will discuss a co-ordinated approach to employment in the world’s marine terminals.
The location of the conference in Ireland is timely given the ongoing 13-week dispute between management and workers at the Marine Terminals in Dublin. The MTL workers claim its new owners, Peel Ports, are trying to replace the existing workforce with lower paid, non-unionised employees and force others to sign new contracts and take 14%-18% pay cuts. It has also brought in, what unions say, are “scab” strike breakers.
At the conference in Cork yesterday, the chairman of the ITF’s global fair practice committee, Paddy Crumlin, vowed the conference would pass a number of motions guaranteeing international action in support of the MTL workers.
Also yesterday Frank Leys, the international docks co-ordinator with the ITF explained the issues facing dockers globally.
“We are facing a drop in global production which means no containers are being loaded which in turn means there are no ships to load,” he said. “If there is a drop in the industry of 15% in the port that will reflect in labour and on those employed in the port. Depending on the regime where they work they will either lose income or guarantees or in the worst case they will lose their jobs.”
