When a ship changes one flag of convenience for another

The representatives of the SUR Far East Regional Organization once again visited a Togo-flagged M/V Captain Kang (IMO 9342944). In 2014 and  2016 the Seafarers' Union had an occasion to  deal with an owner of that vessel on wage arrears. Recent meeting with new crew of the ship  revealed  that Captain Kang has been flying under  the flag of convenience and she doesn't have  a collective agreement  then and now. That means  that the crew cannot be fully sure in employer's honesty.

“In fact, a real owner  of the vessel is Nakhodka-based  Korablestroytel company, but it shifted a wage debt  responsibility to Marino Trading Co, Ltd. However under the court decision, Korablestroytel had to compensate  the salary debt to the previous crew of the ship,” says Nikolai Sukhanov. “All of 16 crew members, who are the citizens of Primorsky Krai,  have an employment  agreement, but without  a collective agreement signed with the union, there  are  no unconditional guarantees against “conning seafarers out of” their  salaries and this became a common  practice in previous years.”

Earlier Captain Kang sailed under the flag of Cambodia, and now – under Togo flag. Both are the flags of  convenience and included in the black list of the Paris Memorandum. Seafarers working  on such vessels often feel the pressure from shipowner and deprived of  the fundamental rights. They don't get a salary  and suffer from lack of supplies. The FOC registers do not  use even the minimal social standards leading to above  mentioned situation and the flags of convenience become attractive for bad  shipowners. And if FOC ships don't have  a collective agreements, the crew are left face-to -face with negligent shipowners and they  fight  for their labour and  social rights.

“This time the wage arrears were not found, although we recommended the  crew join to the  Seafarers' Union of Russia and in any law violation immediately  ask  the  union for help. The SUR has a  vast experience in intercourse  with company representatives and dealing  the case  in court,” Nikolai Sukhanov points out.