Tanker crew safeguarded from servitude after Panama’s refusal for help

A total of ten seafarers from Aframax oil tanker Wind were liberated from slave-like conditions after the demand of release by the International Transport Workers’ Federation. The crew were two months over completing their agreements, raising security concerns, and had only been paid for a single month.

The ITF kept in touch with the ship’s operator, SR Navigation, on 29 October 2021 and again on 3 November 2021, commanding the release of seafarers and restoration of their pay. However, the crew was put ashore in Côte d’Ivoire without the SR Navigation responding towards the beginning of December. They are all currently at home protected in the Philippines.

The ship is enlisted in Panama, giving that country obligation regarding crew welfare and safety under the Maritime Labor Convention (MLC). Notwithstanding, the ITF got no response from the Panama authorities when it raised the issue of the crew’s maltreatment on 3 November nor when the ITF revealed the ship’s deserting to the ILO on 5 November.

“This is regular of Panama’s demeanour,” said Steve Trowsdale, the ITF’s Inspectorate Coordinator.
He also added, “They are the greatest registry on the planet, yet they duck the obligations that accompany that. The Wind case tosses into sharp relief the essential disappointment of the flag of the convenience system. It appears logical that crew non-payment and helpless circumstances are only part of the story. Panama is by all accounts wilfully overlooking an entire scope of sketchy exercises by this ship and its proprietors.”

Dubious exercises

Interviews with group individuals under the state of nondisclosure of their identity revealed that the ship had been associated with a scope of questionable activities. Its Automatic Identification System (AIS) has been disabled since 26 June 2021, suggesting that the ship’s location and the owner were supposed to remain off the radar. In addition, the conditions on the ship are poor. The crew was asked to carry out dangerous activities without any safety framework like rust flaking using electrical tools rather than compressed-air equipment. A single spark from such activity near the oil tanker can put the whole ship at risk. The team additionally reported the unloading of significant amounts of waste in the sea.

Panama registers around 8,500 ships at the moment. Addressing 230 million tons and around one in every six business ships in the sea. It accounts for the highest number of vessels compared to the following two largest registers counted together- China: 3,700 and USA: 3,600. However, Panama has a population of 4.3 million individuals and a GDP of US$53 Billion, contrasted to the US, which has a population of 329 million and a GDP of US$21 Trillion.

According to Trowsdale, this happens because of the mismanagement of numerous ships registered with Panama. However, it also implies that it cannot help the seafarers stuck in a difficult situation, similar to the Winds group. The system is to be blamed for this failure. The world’s economies are approached to reconsider flags of convenience and permit enrolment just in nations where ship’s proprietors have a genuine connection; otherwise, there will be no end to such malpractices and seafarers abuse.

Respectable ship proprietors supporting wrongdoing

Numerous respectable organizations register their ships in Panama, looking for reasonable expenses and taxes. Likewise, enlisting permits them to stay away from worker security and the lowest pay permitted by law rules in their nations. It is ethically problematic.

Panama grants ship proprietorship through anonymous Panamanian organizations, permitting deceitful administrators to do their activities in the dark. As a result, large numbers of the most terrible offenders under international law pick Panama to enlist their ships.

Wind features the awful shortfalls of FoC.

Indeed, the Wind epitomizes the worse of downfalls in the flag of convenience framework. Wicked proprietors utilize the obscurity presented by Panama’s organization and ship registers to keep quiet. They use a progression of shell organizations to make it hard to follow their identity. They frequently change the names and details of ships to make it challenging for officials to follow along.

They mortgage their ships as mortgage providers take priority among creditors. Moreover, it gives an obligation to the proprietors since creditors will observe any worth from selling the ship has effectively been assigned to the bank.

According to the crew members, the ship has been both to China and Venezuela despite the AIS being turned off. It is a course for busting US oil sanctions – unlawfully yet exceptionally lucrative. This might clarify why the proprietor’s action has gone through so much trouble hiding from the authorities. The Wind’s sister ship (IMO:9252979), also worked by SR Navigation and flying Panamanian flag, was likewise accepted in the Venezuelan sea when its AIS was switched off somewhere between June and September subsequently found in China waters. The ship seems to have been dismantled in Bangladesh.

The seafarers would have had no information on any malicious exercises when endorsed; however, although innocent blameless, they may have been held.

“Flags of convenience make it all-around simple for questionable administrators to bypass sanctions, at an extraordinary benefit to themselves,” said Trowsdale. “One asks why the US State division isn’t calling for changes to the flagging framework as an essential forerunner to enforcing sanctions. Meanwhile, sanctions set out freedom for criminals that are putting blameless sailors’ lives in danger.”

Concealing the wrongdoings

The name appearing on the ship seems to have been repainted when it entered Venezuelan waters, permitting the proprietor to make further disarray. A manually written graph on the ship tells the best way to repaint “Wind” to show the name “Vine”. There is no administrative work demonstrating this change was done authoritatively. The Vine (IMO: 9008744) was a crude oil tanker that was separated ten years prior.

“There will constantly be individuals who see ways of making a lot of cash by mocking the law,” said Trowsdale. “However, by permitting the flags of convenience framework to proceed, we are making it excessively simple for them. This places the existence of innocent sailors on the line. Things need to change.”

The ITF also places a request for change wherein the ships are required to be registered in a nation they have genuine links in, the payment of crew should be taken as a priority task, the international company and ship owner rules to be changed to keep transparency and also US State Department should revaluate its oil sanction policies. Scrapping flags of convenience is also suggested to allow better enforcement, safety, and financial protection for seafarers.