The shores of Cape Town are beautiful – but not for crew members stuck on board vessels, which run into trouble with the law and creditors. Over the past four years, the waters of Cape Town have provided a tumultuous time for crew members desperate to get back home. According to Netwerk24, a giant dual-purpose cargo vessel called the E Whale was left stranded for two years just off Blouberg after being arrested due its owner’s debt. The latest incident, as the article below details, has left crewmen living in prison-like conditions, desperate to be paid their wages so that they may go home. – Tracey Ruff
Hanlie Gouws, Netwerk24
Cape Town – “I will not keep quiet. I have been sailing for 18 years and I’ve never seen anything like this. Prisoners are treated better than us.”
Otto Lasrado, 45, from Goa in India is furious about the fact that he and his 20 fellow crewmen have been stuck just off Three Anchor Bay in Cape Town since March 17 on the vessel Agatis. They can see the city from their bulk carrier, but can’t go anywhere.
The vessel was on its way from Myanmar to Ivory Coast with a cargo of bulk-packed rice when it was diverted to Cape Town without warning.
“About six minutes after arriving here, the ship was arrested,” explains Lasrado, the chief chef on board.
The owners of the vessel, Indonesian company Meranti Bahari PT, ran into financial difficulties and did not pay service providers. The shipping agent, Aquarius Maritime PTE Limited from Singapore, and a service provider in the UAE thus had the vessel arrested in an effort to get some of their money.
Aquarius also failed to pay the crew for months, and now they are the pawns in the latest maritime drama in Cape Town.
“We signed on to the vessel in November 2014. Our December salaries were late and I started the fight, but all I got were empty promises,” said Lasrado. “Our January salaries were late again.”
And that was also the last time they got paid.
Conditions on board
They haven’t received a cent since, and the situation at home and on board gets worse by the day.
“We haven’t had water to do laundry in a month, our drinking water is unhygienic and there isn’t enough water to flush the toilets. We have two months’ garbage on board and it stinks terribly.”
Lasrado does his best to keep the crew fed with the meagre rations he has left.
They realised they were in deep trouble and contacted the International Transport Federation (ITF), but when the captain would not let the ITF’s local man Cassiem Augustus on board, he had to go to court with maritime lawyer Alan Goldberg from Rose Street Attorneys to get an order.
“Conditions on board are horrible,” Goldberg said after his last visit to the crew.
He remains hopeful that the crew will get at least a portion of their salaries and can go home soon.
He explained that the only way they could go home right now would be if they rented a boat to take them into the harbour, and then organise and pay for their transportation back to India.
Because they haven’t been paid, none of the men can do that.
“And the Agatis can’t enter the harbour itself because there is obviously nobody who will take responsibility for berthing and other fees,” Goldberg said.
“Our families are suffering,” said Lasrado. “We chose this job to enable us to take proper care of our families and give our kids the best. Who will look after them now?”
While the legal process runs its course, all they can do is wait.
Neither Meranti PT nor Aquarius Maritime PTE Limited responded to requests for comment.
