Seafarer abandonment among ships sailing off UAE's coast

Seafarer abandonment and crooked hiring practices are common among ships sailing the waters of the UAE's coast.

For many landlubbers, the word 'sailor' conjures up thoughts of far-flung travel to exotic foreign ports, a steady paycheck, and a life of adventure on the high seas. But reality is usually different. Aside from hard physical labour, uncomfortable close-quarter living and the homesickness inherent to long sea voyages, sailors can end up stranded thousands of miles from home, trapped on board for weeks or months in grim conditions.
This is what happened recently to the crews of two vessels, the Happy Success and the M/V Aegean Princess, in the waters of the Arabian Gulf. In separate complaints, the two ships' sailors reported they lacked sufficient food and fresh water, had no way to call their loved ones regularly, and were not even paid.
The majority of such cases, known as seafarer abandonment, occur because of financial difficulties faced by the ship's owners, who may be facing bankruptcy, insolvency, or seizure of their vessel by creditors. In most cases, a familiar pattern emerges in which the ship's owners become unreachable, fresh water and food has to be rationed, and salaries are paid late or not at all, which means money doesn't make it to the sailor's families. In some instances, ships may be forced to anchor far offshore because of paperwork complications.
Reverend Dr. Paul Burt, the Dubai-based regional director of The Mission to Seafarers - a welfare charity that serves the needs of merchant seamen worldwide - told Khaleej Times that his organisation finds itself dealing with local seafarer abandonment on a regular basis, adding that many cases go unreported.
"It's a significant issue for shipping in the Gulf," he said. "On an average week we deal with perhaps five or six new cases. That's the tip of the iceberg. There are many we don't hear about, or only hear about through the seafarer's grapevine."
Burt added that because of lack of labour unions in the UAE and elsewhere in the Gulf, seafarers "as employees have no recourse to the unions where they belong."
The Indian connection
In the case of the UAE, the country's strategic location as a port of call for ships plying the waters between Indian ports and those of the Gulf mean that a large number of sailors in the area are Indians.
Indian consular officials tell Khaleej Times that they investigate three to four abandonment cases monthly.
According to Burt, Indian seafarers in particular often find themselves victims of unscrupulous recruitment agencies in India who have been hired by shipping companies to provide crews at a low-cost.
"Many get their jobs in the Gulf - mainly the UAE ports - through crooked manning agencies in Mumbai and other Indian cities which promise jobs that don't materialise as imagined," he said. "They are employed by small or medium-sized shipping companies in the Gulf because they are cheaper ... if you want to employ a captain or an engineer who is properly qualified, it will cost up to three times as much."
Burt noted that many such recruitment agencies might issue sailors with fraudulent documents, which in turn makes some sailors reluctant to seek help from authorities in case of abandonment. Additionally, he says that some agencies "charge huge amounts of money on the promise of these jobs, so they (sailors) arrive in Dubai in debt."
Hemadri Upadhyay, Chief Officer of the M/V Aegean Princess, said abandonment is a well-known risk among sailors.
"These things do happen, and are quite common out here," he said. "On my second ship this happened, and the conditions were quite bad. I signed off early."
Upadhyay said that in his experience, false promises are common when sailors sign on to a new vessel.
"When we come on board, they (ship owners and shipping agents) say we are part of the family. But it's not true," he added. "They don't think on humanitarian grounds. They are on land and get food and water every day. They need to take responsibility."
What can be done?
According to Reverend Nelson Fernandez - a Mission to Seafarers representative who oversees RAK and the Northern Emirates - when a ship is in port, his organisation is able to easily deliver supplies and help to sailors in need of moral support, counseling or paperwork advice.
"What we do in general is visit the ships and check to help with welfare and check if everything is okay," he said. "The unfortunate thing for us is that when they are at anchorage, we can't do much. But in the ports we are able to provide them with food and phone cards."
In Fujairah anchorage, Mission to Seafarers operates its own vessel, the M/V Flying Angel, which can visit ships and serves as a "duty-free shop and communications centre" for sailors transiting through the area.
Paul Burt noted that ships offshore in anchorage areas are particularly problematic, as small shipping companies with scarce resources may be unable to recoup the costs of regular supply runs.
"They're worse, because the only way supplies can be taken is by the (shipping) agent or the owner himself using their own supply vessel," he said. "Most agents will try and do their best in that regard. But it costs several hundred dollars each trip. He (the agent) is not a charity, so there are limits as to what an agent is likely to do. The longer they are running, the more difficult it is for regular supplies to be taken," he added. "The smaller the company, the smaller the agency, the more difficult it is."
Despite the best efforts of Mission to Seafarers, Burt said such incidents will remain common until there are structural reforms to the shipping industry.
"There's not a whole lot more that can be directly done," he said. "Underlying that are structural problems in the industry, which we are not in a position to change." Burt added that the only way to prevent such cases is to establish agencies committed to the rights of seafarers, while at the same time remaining "commercially advantageous" for owners.
"The only way forward is for people of goodwill to set up agencies which are committed to running them ethically, in such a way that it's a good deal not just for the seafarer, but for also for the ship owner. They are an important part of the chain," Burt added.
"We are working on that."
bernd@khaleejtimes.com

• UAE