The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) has banned the Panama-flagged bulk carrier AC Sesoda for deliberately underpaying its crew by more than AUD $118,000, which the ship’s operator attempted to conceal from authorities.
This is the fourth ship that we have banned this year for serious and shameful breaches of the Maritime Labour Convention,
…said AMSA General Manager Operations Allan Schwartz.
AMSA boarded the ship at Mourilyan in Queensland on Thursday, 10 September to investigate allegations about underpayment.
During AMSA’s investigation, evidence confirmed that a number of crew had only been paid half of their wages since October 2019.
The ship’s master and Taiwanese operator, Sincere Industrial Corporation, attempted to conceal the underpayment from AMSA inspectors by only producing a fabricated wage record which indicated that these seafarers had been paid in full.
A second wage record showed that these seafarers had in fact been deliberately underpaid, while some senior members of the crew had been paid above their agreed rates.
As a result, the ship was detained and the operator was directed to pay the outstanding wages. Since then, AMSA has received evidence that crew had been paid the outstanding wages and a rectification action plan developed by the operator to ensure the same failure did not reoccur.
The ship was then released from detention and issued with a 12-month ban, prohibiting it from entering an Australian port.
Collectively, the seafarers on these four ships were underpaid in excess of $290,000, funds which were recovered through the actions of AMSA. We are sending a simple message to operators: Pay your crew properly, treat them respectfully and comply with the requirements of the Maritime Labour Convention or you will not be welcome in Australia,
…concluded Mr. Schwartz.
