FOC WoA: 3rd day

On the third day of the East Asian WoA, we continued checks in the port of Vostochny. The director and an interpreter of the Nakhodka Seamen’s Club joined the team.

1) Upon our arrival at Vostochny (25 km from Nakhodka), the joint team came on board of m/v “FPMC B 201” (flag of Liberia). Crew of 24, all Chinese, were very hospitable and showed us around the vessel. Everything indicated the Owner’s willingness to provide bona fide working conditions for the crew: the ITF CBA was in place, as was the MLC-2006 Certificate; the crew looked content and in a very good mood. We had a discussion on the matters of the SUR and the ITF policy and activities, and distributed ITF magazines in Chinese. The Seamen’s Club officers invited the crew to visit the Club and offered to use the Club’s shuttle bus for that purpose.

2) The next vessel visited was m/v “HYUNDAI VLADIVOSTOK” (a container ship, flag of Panama). IN spite of the namt, the crew had no seafarers from the Eastern Asia: 5 Russians, 5 Ukrainian and 5 Tanzanian seafarers. We were welcomed by the 2^nd Mate, a Ukrainian. He looked rather worried and asked a number of questions about the situation in the South-East of Ukraine. The Master (from St.Petersburg, Russia) immediately produced all the necessary documents (ITF CBA and the NLC-2006 Certificate). On the other hand, by the looks of  the crew it was clear that the Greek owner “saves” on the costs of the protective clothes. Again, we had questions on the wages of the Tanzanian crewmembers. In their Contracts of Employment, it is iindicated, that the wages of (for example) an AB make USD1,200, yet when we asked the crewmembers themselves, they named the amount of just USD650! Well, in this case one can easily understand why the owner uses the FOC: it covers his hokus-pokus system of payment. I must point out that the Master denied this, but, well, we have to believe either him or the crewmembers and there seems to be some discrepancy. So, we told the crew that everything depends on themselves in the first hand: if they act in the spirit of solidarity and friendship, everything can be made in line with the norms.

3) One more container ship, m/v “ARUNA IPSA” (flag of the Marshall Islands). The crew of 22: 4 from Croatia, 1 from Ukraine and 17 from the Philippines. The CBA was signed by the Sindicat Pomoraca Hrvatske (Seafarers’ Union of Croatia) and the Assocoation of Croatian Shipowners. The Owner and the Operator are both in Canada. The vessel carries containers from Busan (Korea) to Nakhodka (Russia). Though we were shown the CBA, the Filipino seafarers had no Contractes of Employment. Thus, we could make a conclusion that certain owners, when employing seafarers from Tanzania and the Philippines, do not pay them according to the ITF requirements.