Stranded Dubai ship crew and owner in 'standoff'

Dubai: There appears to be a standoff between the crew and owner of a cargo vessel stranded off Dubai.

Both sides have made counterclaims: The crew demands backdated salaries before docking and the owner promises to pay their dues once they dock.

Captain Aninda Sengupta of India’s Maharishi Devatreya — anchored around 19km off Port Rashid since July 2013 — claimed that the 14-member crew is owed pay since November 2013.

However, Yudhishthir Khatau, chairman and managing director of Varun Shipping Company, which owns the vessel, said the payment plan is within an “agreed schedule”.

The company faced “financial difficulties”, but is “reviving its entire fleet” of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cargo vessels, he said.

Khatau added that the crew will be paid “soon” and “will be relieved on the vessel entering the [Dubai] drydock around mid-July 2014”.

Once that happens, a new crew will be able to take over. Sengupta and his men need to first sign off in order for a crew change to take place, said a senior official of The Mission to Seafarers (MtS) support group, which is closely following developments. However, the current crew, which relieved an earlier crew in November 2013, is not convinced.

In a signed statement to Gulf News on Wednesday, the captain and 13 crew members said: “[Saying] the ‘crew will be changed soon’ is a vague statement and the owner [has been] saying the same for the last two months.”

Paul Burt, regional director of MtS’ Gulf and South Asia sector, said the situation appears to be a “standoff”. He suspects trust between the two sides weakened in the months leading to the “impasse”.

Based on past observations in similar cases, Burt believes the crew should sign off.

“All indications are the [company’s promises] will be honoured,” Burt said, adding he is in touch with Dubai port officials who are trying to resolve the situation. “There’s a replacement crew ready and staying in hotels in Dubai.”

But Sengupta also claimed that the ship has not received clearance to dock due to technical and documentation issues. He said he has evidence that the Dubai Maritime City Authority (DMCA) “had declared the ship unseaworthy and in violation of… agreements/regulations in April”.

Khatau maintained that the ship is safe and the company “is doing its best on the issue” to resolve all discussions with Dubai authorities and the crew.

Another ship in the fleet, Maharishi Bhavatreya, is also allegedly languishing under similar circumstances. Four more LPG ships belonging to the company are already docked in Dubai.

“When I joined, they told me that the ship would move to the Dubai dry docks in December 2013 and start trading normally,” Sengupta said earlier.

“We are prisoners on the ship as we cannot leave it because we do not have visas to land in the country and we cannot go back to India because the ship’s certificates expired [in December 2013] and I am not authorised to move the ship.

“If I do and something happens, I’ll be held responsible. The owner… just sends us food and water every two months so we can survive and every time we talk to him he says next week or next month and nothing happens.”