Sixteen seafarers will spend Christmas aboard an arrested Hanjin containership off the coast of British Columbia. But local residents aim to play Santa by bringing a bit more cheer to the crew.
To that end, maritime labour groups and the members of the Filipino community in Victoria gathered together one tonne of Christmas provisions to bring to the 4,662-teu Hanjin Scarlet (built 2013), which is currently under arrest near Prince Rupert.
The Hanjin-owned boxship unloaded in September after terminal operator DP World and CN Rail struck a deal to move stranded cargo. But DP World obtained an arrest warrant to claim unpaid bills of CAD 1.6m ($1.21m) amassed by Hanjin ships.
The Christmas bounty includes a Christmas tree, a roasting pig and barbecue coals, according to Victoria's Times Colonist. One seafarer, Romeo Cabacang, is quoted as saying that the crew has yet to receive any information with regard to a repatriation.
"It’s lonely," Cabacang told the Times Colonist. "But all the crew, we are very happy for the early Christmas gift. We are very happy."
ITF: 190 cases crew strandings
A representative of the International Transport Workers' Federation told TradeWinds that the union had up to 190 cases of stranded seafarers reported this year.
Twenty-two seafarers remain stranded on the FreeSeas-owned 30,838-dwt Free Neptune (built 1996) anchored off the coast of Oman since June. The seafarers went on strike after going unpaid for 11 months.
Tweleve seafarers remain onboard the 5,900-dwt Newlead Granadino (built 2009), which has been stuck in Baltimore Harbour since September. Another 17 crew members of the Newlead Victoria, which is anchored off Malaysia, also face a protracted stay as that ship remains under arrest.
