Seafarers on three ships at berth in Australia are refusing to sail and demanding to be sent home as the worsening crew crisis leads to industrial action.
According to unions, the strike action is being taken by crew on the NSB Group-controlled 6,078-teu containership Conti Stockholm (built 2000) at Freemantle and the Cargill-chartered 35,000-dwt bulk carrier Ben Rinnes (built 2015) at the port of Geelong, Victoria.
The International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) said crew on a third ship, the 36,000-dwt Unison Jasper (built 2019), are also refusing to sail from the port of Newcastle.
The ITF said the Romanian, Sri Lankan, Filipino and Polish crew members on the Conti Stockholm have a right under the Maritime Labour Convention to “stop working on completion of their contracts, and be returned home at their employer's expense”.
Australian senator Glenn Sterle, a member of the Labor opposition party, has visited the ship to offer support.
A spokesman for NSB said that the crew on the Conti Stockholm are not refusing to work.
He said that overdue contracts only apply to three ratings on the ship and the company is in discussions with the ITF and ship's crew over repatriation. The shipmanager said that it has a good record on crew change having completed some 60% of its scheduled crew changes on time during the pandemic.
Five crew members on the Ben Rinnes, one of which has been onboard for more than 17 months, told the ITF they want to go home.
ITF Australia coordinator Dean Summers said: “The crews on these two ships have bravely stood up and said that they will not be leaving these ports to do another tour of duty on what amounts to floating prisons.”
Summers said that more ships are now likely to follow.
“These ships are just the tip of the iceberg. With international crew change all but blocked for the last five months – you can see more and more crews decided to drop anchor and get off in Australia. This is an economic and humanitarian emergency,” he said.
Australia has been more of the more proactive countries in encouraging shipowners to repatriate crew. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority has said that any ship calling at its ports in which crew have been onboard for more than 11 months could face detention unless a flag state-approved repatriation plan is provided.
