Mission to Seafarers gets welfare and justice for ship’s crew
Many will be familiar with the chaplaincy work of The Mission to Seafarers, but they are also engaged nationally and internationally to achieve justice for seafarers, and in campaigning for their rights.
Belfast–based Chaplain and a former rector in the diocese, Revd Colin Hall–Thompson, writes of a recent struggle to get welfare and justice for the crew of ‘Star Viking (now Amira Lola)…
“The former ‘Star Viking’ and crew were berthed here for over 9 months!! A once general cargo coaster had been transformed in to a live cattle cargo boat before arriving here for repairs. However it soon transpired that something had gone amiss with the contracts, and the crew were not being looked after very well.
“Along with MCA & ITF we spent a lot of time harrying the owners. Eventually, after wages had been secured, four Filipino crew were repatriated. The situation gradually deteriorated for the remaining 10, to the point were we had to feed them and beg for other facilities to be secured.
“However, the good news is that after the Admiralty Marshal and courts became involved, the ship has been sold—hence the change of name—the crew’s wages recovered (200,000k) and the crew repatriated to Latvia, Ukraine and the Philippines. A new crew has arrived to work for new owners and hopefully they will be able to sail into the sunset soon!”