Russian seafarer went on hunger strike on board of Palmali’s vessel

The Ch. Officer has been on board the tanker Shovket Alekperova for 13 months. The company did pay him a salary or signed him off but the seafarer needs to pay loans and mortgages so bailiffs have already joined the case. The hunger strike is the last opportunity for him to move the situation forward.

The tanker Shovket Alekperova under the flag of Malta remains on the roadstead of the port of Istanbul since May. At the moment two Russians and 10 Azerbaijanis remain on board. Until recently, the Russian Cook also fought with the company for his rights and he proved to be luckier as 10 months later, Palmali found a replacement and sent the seafarer home.

«The vessel is deenergized, water is also out, – said the captain Vadim Kauchkin. – There is some provision on board, but we can only cook over an open fire».

Palmali responds with silence to all the seafarer’s requests to return them home. "In fact, the company just abandoned the vessel with the crew, there is no reaction to our appeals or to the messages from the crew," says Olga Ananina, ITF inspector  in Novorossiysk. "The only hope is for the P&I club, which, under the reqiremrnts of the MLC, is obliged to pay for the repatriation of the crew of an abandoned vessel."

At the same time, Palmali representative Mahmoud Imansoy assured that the change to Shovket Alekperova is being prepared «in the near future», but he refused to specify when exactly.

According еo Olga Ananina, the Flag state administration could also influence the settlement of the claim, all the more since all the company's vessels are currently in a similar situation. «In our practice, the participation of the Flag state plays a huge role in resolving conflicts on board»- agrees Mohamed Arrachedi, coordinator of the ITF network in the Arab countries and Iran, who helps seafarers from another abandoned vessel owned by Palmali.- But the representatives of the Malta Flag do not react to the seafarers claims”.