Non-payment of wages to seafarers led to a criminal case opening

A criminal case has been opened on the fact of non-payment of wages to the seafarers from the m/v Port May"(IMO 8912807, flag of Russia). The shipowner, VIP-Stroy Holding LLC, owed the crew 1 850 331 rubles. As the press service of the Far Eastern Investigative Department for Transport of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation notes, « measures are being taken to repay the resulting debt, and the circumstances of the incident are being established.

On April 6, 2021, the media published information about the non-payment of wages to the crew of the Russian ship Port May. During the procedural check, information was obtained about the presence of debts to the seafarers in the amount of more than 1 million rubles, » - the ministry said in a statement. Indeed, on April 6, eight crewmembers applied for the Far Eastern territorial organization of the Seafarers Union of Russia for help. They said that the salary debt is 1 850 331 rubles, food and fuel supplies on board are running out. In addition, the part of the crew that is trying to defend its interests has come under pressure from the employer.

The crew consists of 17 people, but, according to those who asked for help, the rest of the crew is afraid to confront the shipowner. The fact is that they still have not received a full payment under those contracts so they hope that the management will pay off the debts. It should be noted that in the past, the FETO SUR has repeatedly encountered VIP-Stroy-Holding LLC and its habit of not paying seafarers ' salaries in full. As Nikolay Sukhanov, the chairman of the FETO SUR said earlier, the company used a cunning scheme for the Port May. So, the seafarers were awarded two contracts, one was concluded with VIP-Stroy-Holding with a salary of 13,000 to 17,000 rubles, the other - with a foreign company  General Exporters LLP with a bonus of $800 to $2700, which was calculated at the request of the shipowner. Currently, the vessel Port May is located in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy. Here, the crew counts on a technical inspection of the vessel and on replenishment of fresh water, food and fuel. FETO SUR advised the seafarers to stay on board until the debt was fully repaid. Otherwise, if the crewmembers are sign off, they will not see the money earned. This is due to the fact that the company gave employees two contracts to sign, one of which was with a foreign company.