There are no complaints on board the m/v FMT BERGAMA, SWAMI and BEREKET

While the world is raging over the change of crews, some crews are fortunately being repatriated. For example, while visiting the tanker FMT BERGAMA (IMO 9427988, flag of Malta, built in 2009), inspectors of the Kaliningrad regional organization of the Seafarers Union of Russia (KRO SUR) found a friendly Russian crew, which only recently arrived on board.

The vessel, owned by Swiss shipowner United Maritime Logistics, operates in the European waters and came from Sweden to Kaliningrad for soy oil. In total, there are 19 Russians on board who do not complain about anything. This is not surprising as the salary on board is paid on time, and it is clear that the shipowner does not forget about the crewmember and their leisure time. On board the vessel for example, there is a PlayStation game console, a gym, and even four bicycles. «In general, everything we saw pleased us. The ship in good condition, clean inside, almost all documents are in order, except the text of  ITF Special Agreement which proved to be expired, said technical labour inspector of the KRO SUR  Petr Dzendzelyuk. However, despite the fact that the all crew consists of Russian citizens and some of them are members of the SUR, the ship is covered by the collective agreement of Latvian Seafarers Union. We recommended seafarers to visit their trade Union organization, confirm their membership in the SUR and get a card».

The seafarers from the ship SWAMI (IMO 9100126, (flag of the Bahamas, built in 1995), also changed just a few days ago and are only happy that in today's difficult circumstances they can work. The vessel, owned by the Norwegian shipowner MISJE REDERI AS, also operates in the European region and, despite being 25 years old, is in good condition, both outside and inside. The ship is covered by the TCC collective agreement of the Norwegian Seafarers ' Union. It is not the first time that KRO inspectors have boarded the SWAMI and although everything is in order on board, last time the captain and chief executive officer noted the small number of the crew: only six people (unfortunately it has not changed to this day, there are five Russians and one Belarusian on board).

– Of course, this is not enough as the deck officers have to work  six to six, and this inevitably leads to  fatigue, - said Peter Dzendzelyuk.  After the last visit, we officially approached the company and the flag state with a proposal to add another position of deck officer. Unfortunately, the goal was not achieved, but it is worth noting that the shipowner immediately responded to our appeal, called and explained that the company considers this an objective comment and is working to fix the situation, but at the moment can not afford to employ another crewmember on board, which will cost it about 60-65 000 USD a year. And noted that the number of crewmembers on board meets the standards of the flag state. The flag state, by the way, ignored the appeal, which is common for many flags of convenience administrations in general.

On board the bulk carrier BEREKET (IMO 9123702, flag Panama, built in 1997), which recently arrived to the Kaliningrad port from Belgium for scrap metal, the crew has no complaints either, but the situation on board is not so rosy. Although the ship, owned by the Turkish shipowner RANA DENIZCILIK NAKLIYAT, is in good condition from the outside, inside it looks unattractively because of old damaged furniture and mess. The inspectors were greeted by 22 Turkish seafarers, including four cadets. «Seafarers' contracts are concluded for 8-9 months. One of the cadets is 29 years old, he has a 44 hour working week, a salary of 310 USD and even has overtime, said Lyudmila Izmalkova, technical labor inspector of the KRO SUR.  However, all this is in line with the ITF collective agreement of Turkish Seafarers Union."  There were no complaints from the seafarers and in general the ship did give rise to complaints.

The inspectors, as usual, did not leave the seafarers of all vessels without gifts and gave them copies of the Maritime Union Herald, ITF publications and calendars of the KRO SUR.