Two vessels managed by small Greek dry bulk player Aroania Maritime have been abandoned, detained or arrested over outstanding financial obligations to crew and lenders, union and flag state notifications show.

Reports by the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) and the Liberian flag state administration, released on the ship abandonment website of the International Labour Organization (ILO), paint a bleak picture of Aroania's fleet.

Ten Ukrainian crew members of the 42,600-dwt Avlemon (built 1997) reported to the ITF in December that their ship was abandoned at the PAXOcean Shipyard in Zhoushan, China, after its arrest by a local court at the request of the yard and creditors. The seafarers claimed they were owed wages for up to a year.

One month later, the crew contacted Avlemon’s flag state of Liberia to complain they were running short on food, water and fuel.

On 24 January, the Liberian flag state got through to Aroania managers, only to be told that FIMBank, a Malta lender, had taken possession of the ship.

FIMBank, which did not respond to a TradeWinds request for comment, would appoint new managers for the Avlemon, pay all outstanding wages and repatriate the crew by the end of January, Aroania told the Liberia Registry.

By the end of January, food, cash and hotel accommodation were provided to the crew by the American Club.

On 20 March, the New York-based protection and indemnity club penned a draft agreement aiming to make advance wage payments and repatriate the crew, pending a full settlement of their claims by a Chinese court. ITF officials, Ukrainian diplomats, the American Club and Chinese authorities are currently in talks with the crew to persuade them to accept the agreement, according to the union.

This is not the first time the authorities have intervened over complaints about the manager's failure to pay wages.

In March and September 2017, two Avlemon off-signers told Liberian flag state authorities that they were owed outstanding wages. According to the information Liberia provided to the ILO, the ship’s managers said the owners were “facing financial constraints and needed time to resolve the off-signers’ wage issues”.

Wage complaints lay behind the detention of another vessel managed by Aroania, the 27,300-dwt Amsel (built 1994), at Varna, Bulgaria, where it has reportedly been abandoned since last July with 22 Ukrainian seafarers onboard.

It was not until 21 March this year that 11 crew of the Amsel were repatriated, with the master following on 23 March. According to the ITF, they have all signed confidentiality agreements with the P&I club without having a copy themselves and without having received any insurance money prior to repatriation.

Five crew members remain onboard the Amsel because they do not want to leave the vessel.

Trouble with the Avlemon and the Amsel left Athens-based Aroania with a single vessel in its managed fleet, the 28,400-dwt Maria L (built 1998). However, the ITF reported on the ILO’s website in November that managers of that ship too had an ongoing court case over unpaid wages exceeding $1m.

“Practice of company is to pay salaries at the end of contract upon repatriation,” the ILO report said.

That dispute has probably led the Maria L’s unidentified owners to put it under new managers. Athens-based Sky Shipping Agency, a previously unknown outfit, confirmed in an email to TradeWinds that it took over the vessel’s management last month.

Equasis lists Sky Shipping Agency as working out of the same Athens Tower office building as Aroania. However, Sky Shipping Agency’s representatives deny their company has any relation to the Maria L’s previous managers.

Aroania did not respond to email requests for comment.