A group of seafarers on board a ship held at the Port of Fawley were found to be without warm clothing for days and their wages unpaid for three months.
The chemical tanker, Sea Emperor, was detained by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency on January 28, 2017, after it was found to have various equipment deficiencies. The agency also found that there was a lack of cleaning products on board.
Peter Morgan, Assistant Port Chaplain for Southern Ports from seafarers’ charity Apostleship of the Sea (AoS) visited the ship to offer the crew assistance after the third engineer contacted the International Transport Workers Federation.
Morgan said: “It was ‘pungent’ on board, to put it politely. The crew were nervous around the marine superintendent and were reluctant to say anything at the time.”
After the disconcerting conditions he witnessed, Morgan left his contact details with the crew, who texted him later to say they had not been paid their wages and that they had no warm clothing with them.
Morgan returned the next day to bring clothes, soap, cleaning materials and sim cards for the crew to contact their families, but the ship had gone out to anchorage. He returned the following day with a marine police unit, which visited the ship at anchorage and managed to successfully deliver the supplies to the seafarers.
Morgan said: “They appeared happier and more relaxed. They informed me they had finally been paid and that cleaning supplies had been put on board.”
The ship has since left for Lagos, Nigeria, and is scheduled to arrive on February 18, 2017.
AoS, via its team in Manila, have said they that intend to get into contact with the crewmembers’ family to offer any support that is needed.