A TRUCKLOAD of food was delivered yesterday to 12 Filipino seafarers who were found to be working in “appalling conditions” when their ship was boarded at Cork Harbour at the weekend.
The men were found on board the Liberian-registered tanker Lady Chiara at Ringaskiddy ferry port on Saturday morning by inspectors from the International Transport Federation (ITF), and Siptu representatives.
ITF inspector Ken Fleming said the men were living in some of the worst conditions he had ever seen, with only contaminated water to drink and no fresh food.
“It was empty refrigerators as such. There were vegetables, but they had rotted so much they had started to regenerate. There was no fresh fruit, no proper drinking water and no milk. There was Salami with a use-by date of 2007. There was frozen fish at the end of one fridge which couldn’t be classed as edible. They hadn’t had their dietary needs met for about two weeks. Some of them were crying when we came on board. We made sure that provisions were delivered today and their dietary needs met.”
Mr Fleming said he was concerned about personal hygiene on board as water from taps seemed contaminated with rust. He said seafarers claimed they were being paid $1,400 (€900) a month for hundreds of hours of work. The vessel’s captain has since released funds due to the crew.
The tanker was held up on Saturday when dockers refused to help discharge molasses on board until the vessel was restocked with provisions for the seafarers.
Three of the 12 Filipinos are to be repatriated from Belfast, where the 16,000-tonne vessel is due to call tomorrow. The ship has been reported to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency in the North and it is expected it will be inspected again in Belfast.
This is the second time in three weeks that dockers at Ringaskiddy have refused to co-operate with ship operators because of conditions on board. On April 17th a ship that arrived in Cork was paying crew members as little as $1 an hour, according to the ITF.
The vessel, the Defender, registered in Cambodia, is operated by Forestry Shipping, based in the Latvian port of Riga, the ITF said.
Mr Fleming said the Russian captain was earning only $3,500 a month, instead of the $6,000 he is supposed to get. Mr Fleming said the chief officer was paid $1,250 since January and the cook only $100 since the start of the year.
Four crew members on board the Defender are to be paid over $60,000 in arrears following representations by the ITF.