Three months on from their hijacking ordeal in Iran, 28 crew from a suezmax tanker are still owed wages and cannot work.
The 151,000-dwt Gulf Sky (built 1998) has now been renamed Rima in Iran after a murky incident on 5 July that saw it disappear from anchorage off Khor Fakkan in the United Arab Emirates and re-emerge nine days later in Iranian waters.
UAE authorities have retained the seafarers' continuous discharge certificates, pending an ongoing criminal investigation by government prosecutors.
The Indian crew members were repatriated from Tehran, but they claim to be owed $197,000 in wages dating back to March, according to UK charity Human Rights at Sea (HRAS).
Shipping databases list the vessel's owner as Fanoos Savehel Kish of Iran, as of August.
The previous alleged beneficial owner was Oman's Taif Mining Services.
The tanker was earlier known as the Nautic and had been at anchor in the UAE since February following its alleged sale to an individual sanctioned by the US over links to Iranian trading.
The vessel had been arrested in a dispute over the sale by Greece's Polembros Shipping to Taif Mining last October.
Polembros was investigated and later cleared by the US over the alleged links to Iranian trading of two buyers, and is now trying to recover $10m from the deal that is being held by a US bank, identified as Wells Fargo.
Hijacked from UAE
Crew members have said six people boarded the ship in July claiming to be surveyors, but they then held the crew at gunpoint and beat the captain.
The crew alleged they were tied up and locked in the mess room before the ship sailed.
HRAS said: "The complex commercial and geopolitical case of the Gulf Sky continues to be under investigation at state level as to the background to, and circumstances of, the hijack of the vessel from UAE waters to Hormuz Island in Iran."
HRAS and flag-state body the Commonwealth of Dominica Maritime Administration (CDMA) have been jointly engaged with correspondents for New Zealand-based protection and indemnity club Maritime Mutual Insurance Association (MMIA) to seek the back pay.
The CDMA has submitted a final demand letter to MMIA and is considering a criminal complaint, the administration said.
The club told HRAS it is aware that Taif Mining had been placed under US Office of Foreign Assets sanctions after the vessel was entered with the club.
MMIA told TradeWinds the matter is a complex one.
"The circumstances in which the vessel was sold, flagged and ultimately sailed to Iran remain unclear," the club added.
"The association continues to investigate and is liaising with the Dominica flag registry to clarify these issues."
The club said that in the meantime, it has confirmed that the Commonwealth of Dominica has not ratified the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC).
Managed from India
Crew employment contracts were originally entered into with Seven Seas Navigation (India), though it remains unclear why the company has not settled outstanding wages.
Shakeel Ahmed, managing director of Seven Seas, told TradeWinds he had emailed the Indian government's Shipping Master on Tuesday to request duplicate CDCs.
"Apart from this we send several emails [for] three months," he said. "Due to ongoing investigation [they] got delayed."
The company hopes to have duplicates this week or next week, Ahmed added.
"Regarding crew wages we are following with P&I due to legal issues. It has taken a little time," he said. "P&I owners are responsible for crew wages."
However, Seven Seas has invoked arbitration to recover crew wages and outstanding management fees from owners. "We are timely providing updated information to crew," Ahmed said.
HRAS and CDMA said they had been advised that vessel manager United Island Maritime Ventures Private, based in India, had been involved in paying the crew, although this also appears to have ceased.
Fines in excess of $5m have now been levied against the owner and United Island by the CDMA.
The crew continue to make their case to the Director General Shipping of India, maritime unions, welfare and civil society organisations. But they have been ignored so far.
Crewman Darshnik Singh told HRAS: "I and my family are facing financial problems as I have not received my wages from Seven Seas Navigation, due to which I am not able to fulfil my family needs."
Third engineer Tandel Sujeetkumar described his experience as painful.
He added: "We were arrested by Iranian hijackers from 5 July to 14 July. Those 10 days experience was very horrible for us because they kept us in one mess room — we 28 people lived together in that small room."
'Justice shall be served'
Eric Dawicki, chief executive of the CDMA, said his office had been working hard on behalf of the crew, engaging with the UAE Directorate of Maritime Transport Sector and the Federal Transport Authority, as well as Indian authorities.
He added that when the Directorate General of Shipping in India submits its finding to the trilateral investigation team headed by Dominica, the flag state will then issue a statement of facts and a plan for legal action against the "perpetrators of one of the most brazen crimes on the high seas in the 21st century".
"One way or another, justice shall be served," Dawicki added.
Iranian nationals Dianat and Kamran Lajmiri are alleged by the US to have set up a web of shell companies registered around the world to buy the Gulf Sky for the benefit of Iran's oil industry.
Greek seller Polembros Shipping said that its due diligence showed the buyer was controlled by a "wealthy Omani family", and that the outfit had signed statements stipulating it had nothing to do with Iran.
London arbitration
Polembros has begun arbitration in London to try to recover the funds. The case had also been expected to be heard by the UAE's Supreme Court at the end of May.
At the same time, the US government is looking to seize the $10m held by Wells Fargo, along with the $2.3m deposit that was paid to Polembros.
In May, the Gulf Sky's master, Joginder Singh, contacted Human Rights at Sea to highlight the plight of the crew. He said they had suffered from inadequate provisions of food, fresh water and fuel, as well as medical supplies during the coronavirus outbreak.
Manager United Island told HRAS in May that the seafarers had to show patience and understanding during the pandemic in terms of repayment and repatriation.
Repatriation promise
United Island assured HRAS that it intended to repatriate the seafarers when lockdown eased and flights reopened.
United Island acknowledged delays in paying the men and justified this as a ramification of the Covid-19 disruption to the banking sector, HRAS said.
The company said all basic provisions had been delivered and there were "not many" outstanding salaries, given the chaos of the pandemic.
The crew would receive their money before signing off, United Island pledged.
