Six seafarers who have been stranded aboard an asphalt tanker in Baltimore Harbour for the last five months are headed home.
Separately, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) added the case to its official list of seafarer abandonments. The ILO's list shows 16 cases of seafarer abandonment reported last year.
The 5,900-dwt Newlead Granadino (built 2009) has been idled since 10 September after the ship was detained by the US Coast Guard (USCG) over engine problems.
The crew of 18 seafarers originally aboard ship said its former owner, NewLead Holdings, failed to pay back wages of some $146,000 that accrued since August. NewLead said cash flow problems led to a delay in wages, as well as its inability to repair the vessel.
According to the ILO, the crew had "no food, low potable water, no wages (and) no heat."
Six of the seafarers were repatriated in November, but safe manning rules under the Transport Malta registry required at least 12 seafarers to be on board during repairs. Barbara Shipley, an inspector with the International Transport Worker's Federation, says another six seafarers were able to leave the ship this week.
Since last October, Natixis, the bank which held the mortgage on the vessel, stepped in to provision the vessel and pay the wages owed to the crew. The ship has been supplied with space heaters and ship management agency Ravenship handled daily operations.
The ship's boiler is also said to be undergoing repairs to provide heat to the remaining crew.
