Australia is taking a proactive approach to ensuring that shipowners live up to their responsibilities under the Maritime Labour Convention, detaining two Chinese-owned bulkers over the past week due to crew wage claims.
A third is currently under their microscope.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) yesterday detained Fortune Ocean Shipping’s 34,500-dwt bulker Xing Jing Hai (built 2015) in Brisbane over crew allegations of non payment of wages.
The ship had arrived in the Queensland port with a cargo of clinker when its crew notified inspectors from the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) that they had not been paid their wages since June.
Similar allegations have been made by the crew of Fortune Ocean Shipping’s 34,500-dwt Xing Ning Hai (built 2015), which is currently docked in Port Kembla.
The ITF has requested AMSA to investigate their claim.
Fortune Ocean is alleged to owe both crews a total of around $200,000 in back wages.
The Chinese company is no stranger to facing the wrath of the ITF and AMSA. Last year the Xing Ning Hai was detained by AMSA in Devonport, Tasmania, after an ITF inspection found the crew had not been paid for six months. More than $300,000 was recovered in unpaid wages before the bulker was allowed to depart Australian waters.
Last week AMSA detained the Chinese-owned, Panamanian -flagged panamax bulker Fortune Genius (built 2002) in the port of Gladstone following an ITF inspection that found fraudulent documentation, including two sets of books, which the organization claims were used to conceal wage theft.
Eight crew members from Myanmar were found to have been underpaid $8,000 dollars each over a period of six months.
The men reported that they had been bullied and forced into working excessive hours for which they weren’t paid and asked for assistance with being repatriated to Myanmar due to concerns for their safety if they remained on the vessel.
TradeWinds is told that a representative from the ship’s owner subsequently arrived with $50,000 in cash to pay the outstanding wages.
The eight crew refused to continue working on board the ship and requested immediate repatriation, as per their rights under the MLC.
AMSA refused a request that the ship be allowed to proceed to South Korea with a reduced crew.
The Fortune Genius is expected to be released from detention once crew replacements have embarked. It is reportedly on charter to South Korean company Five Ocean Corp.
TradeWinds reported earlier this year that the newly acquired Fortune Genius was under management of New Fortune Union, a company associated with Fuzhou's Ocean Faith. Company officials could not immediately be reached for comment, but sources in the Fuzhou shipowning community say the ship is crewed by a local company.
ITF assistant coordinator Matt Purcell said the fact that three almost identical cases of rampant wage theft had been identified in such a short period of time highlighted the serious exploitation taking place in Australia’s maritime supply chains.
“These cases show that massive wage theft and the exploitation of vulnerable foreign seafarers are not an anomaly, they are a central feature of the business models of many of the shipping operators carrying freight too and from Australia,” he said.
“All these vessels have been contracted to carry goods and materials for major businesses. The Xing Jing Hai is in Brisbane to deliver clinker to Cement Australia, while the Xing Ning Hai is in Port Kembla to carry steel from Bluescope.
“Without the actions of the ITF, not one of these vessels would have been inspected, which is why so many companies think they can get away with rampant exploitation in Australian waters.”
ITF inspectors have previously told TradeWinds that many ports and flag states have consistently played lip service to their MLC obligations, and requests that they take action have been met with long delays and half-hearted, meek attempts at resolving the crew wage concerns.
“AMSA deserves to be commended for acting swiftly once issues are identified, but the current system relies on the efforts of ITF inspectors and whistle-blowers among ship crews to identify problems, meaning countless cases of exploitation are slipping through the gaps,” Purcell said.
AMSA has in the past issued ships with one-year banning orders after finding that the owners deliberately underpaid crews.
