Crew members from detained ship head home

Nine crew members of the Cypriot-registered freighter Celtic Star, which was detained in Dublin over Christmas, were on their way home to Romania last night.

The nine, who included one of the ship's officers, were paid all money owing to them in outstanding wages and overtime payments.

The arrangements were made after the men asked the International Transport Federation (ITF) to intervene with the ship's owners, managers and charterers, over breaches of their terms and conditions of employment.

The 11,000-tonne freighter, which operates a regular freight trip between Dublin and Liverpool, is owned by Eptanisos Maritime, Cyprus, and managed by Jay Management Corporation, of Greece. It was chartered by Irish company Seatruck.

Last night Seatruck was commended for intervening in the row to ensure the men were paid money owed and flown home. It is understood that Seatruck undertook to pay the arrears on Christmas Eve.

"Seatruck have been extremely helpful and moved mountains to sort out the problem," federation inspector Ken Fleming of Siptu said last night.

"Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the owners or the shipping agency responsible for the present situation," he added.

Mr Fleming said he was in regular contact with the crew as they prepared to leave the ship last night, and at the time of writing they were on their way to Dublin airport.

He said the men were due €26,843 in arrears and the federation also had concerns about safety "because of the excessive hours they are working and poor conditions on board".

The remaining crew members are believed to be Ukrainian but have not been in communication with the ITF.

On Monday the federation said its inspectors, who boarded the ship, had found that members of the crew had been "systematically overworked".

ITF co-ordinator for the United Kingdom Norrie McVicar, who was among those who boarded the vessel, told The Irish Times that nine members of crew had informed the ship's master that they were no longer prepared to sail over breaches of their terms and conditions of employment.

The federation said an inspection of the ship's records revealed the total hours worked by the men "were not recorded and many of them are working well in excess of the health and safety maximum.

"Although the men have signed contracts purporting to be ITF agreements, there is no collective agreement with the organisation. The men are also not being properly paid."