SEAFARERS onboard the MV Ula bulk carrier, in the port of Shuaiba, Kuwait, have been refusing all food since 7 January, saying they cannot eat while their families back home go hungry.
The mixed crew from India, Turkey, Azerbaijan and Bangladesh are demanding immediate repatriation and payment of more than $400,000 in wages.
“We only drink water to keep us going,” one said.
Six of the 19 hunger strikers have already been hospitalised to stabilise their blood pressure and sugar levels, before they were returned to the ship.
The crew have been on board the vessel for 14 months – some for longer than 19 months. One has been 26 months on board. They are asking Kuwait to replace them with local crew, so that they can go home to their families.
Mohamed Arrachedi, ITF Arab World and Iran Network co-ordinator for the International Transport Workers’ Federation, said, “They have not been paid for 11 months,” adding that the ITF has offered the crew legal assistance.
The ITF contacted the parties with obligations and responsibilities towards the crew more than a year ago – in September 2019. This included the Qatari ship owner and their insurer. Since then, the ITF has been fighting to get the crew food, water and the wage payments they believe they are owed.
The ITF also reported the crew’s abandonment to global agencies the International Labour Organization and the International Maritime Organization.
When Mr Arrachedi first got a call for help from the crew, the MV Ula was in Iran and had no lighting, no fuel and little food and water.
“At the time, 25 crew onboard became sick due to lack of medication, fresh drinking water, and food,” said one crew member.
“At times we only had only enough provisions for one meal a day.”
The ITF continued pushing for the owed wages, and the owner came forward with some of the pay owed to some of the crew. In April 2020, the ITF insisted that the vessel be admitted to the port at Shuaiba, in Kuwait. But the crew were still not allowed ashore.
When wage payments stopped for the third time, tensions onboard escalated and four seafarers were locked in their cabins. The master reported a mutiny on board to the Palau and Kuwaiti authorities.
“We didn’t see the sun, we didn’t see the moon, we didn’t feel the breeze for four months and 16 days,” one seafarer from the MV Ula said.
“It was like being in jail.”
A special committee was formed with representatives from the ILO, IMO, ITF, the Qatari owners, the Indian Embassy, and the Palau flag State where the vessel was registered. But no solution was reached.
In May, the Kuwait Port Authority took action and detained the ship and its load of clinker construction pre-materials. The authorities uncovered the shipowner Aswan Trading and Contracting of Qatar had being blacklisted since 13 February 2017, and that the company’s chairman was wanted by Qatari law enforcement.
When a ship is abandoned the vessel’s flag state normally steps in to preserve the life of the crew and ensure owed wages are paid.
“Palau failed to do its job,” said Mr Arrachedi.
“The ITF repeatedly raised the lack of provisions and wages owing, but no action was taken.”
After discussions with ITF, IMO and the Kuwaiti Authorities, Palau terminated the ship’s registration in September 2020 with the crew demands unresolved. It was determined that this would better allow Kuwait to resolve the matter.
The ITF said this case exposes the lack of power and willingness on the part of flag states to take appropriate action in these circumstances.
“Since the ship is now flagless, it is left up to the Kuwaiti maritime authorities to resolve the situation. Kuwait has a legal and moral responsibility to save these seafarers while there is still time,” Mr Arrachedi said.
Six crew, including three who had been confined to the cabins, were signed off the ship in September – but without their owed salary.
Usually in cases of abandonment, the ship’s insurance would cover some wages for the crew, or the owner. But the insurer is not an affiliate of the P&I Club and since the Kuwait Port Authority have facilitated a crew change to replace the crew, the owner refuses to pay. The crew are now calling on the Kuwaiti authorities to act.
“The Kuwait Port Authority provide basic necessities onboard, but our families get nothing. They need to eat too,” one seafarer said.
The ITF has called on the Kuwaiti authorities for an urgent solution, while the crew’s hunger strike continues.
