'Russia is practically the only country where shore leave is not allowed'

The vessel Jadei (IMO 9162411, flag of Panama), which called the port of Kaliningrad, attracted the attention of the inspection of the International Federation of Transport for some reasons. First of all, in August last year, ITF representative in Ghent, Belgium, found out that many Filipino crewmembers had contracts that exceeded the maximum allowable limits and reached 14-16 months. In addition, if only recently the ship was covered by the collective agreement of the ITF, then last year the Greek shipowner Sunberry Oceanways Ltd didn't to renew it. Inspectors in Kaliningrad decided to check how things are going with the repatriation on board today.

As it turned out, the crew was successfully replaced. Today, the ship is manned by Filipinos, Greeks and Romanians. All seafarers just joined the vessel so that the terms of contracts are not exceeded. «At first, the Greek captain did not really want to let us on board, fearing the coronavirus, but when we showed him negative test results, he not only allowed us to go on board, but also talked with us with pleasure, showed everything and offered to speak freely with other crewmembers, despite the lack of a collective agreement on board. We did not find any deficiencies, supply is sufficient, wage is paid regularly. However, the captain complained that of the European countries which the vessel called before, Russia is almost the only one where it is impossible to go ashore freely. As the vessel was not covered by the IT collective agreement, the letter of warning was sent to the shipowner»., – said Lyudmila Izmalkova, technical labor inspector of the Kaliningrad territorial organization of the Seafarers Union of Russia, who took part in the inspection.

Inspectors visited another vessel which as well was not covered by the ITF collective agreement, the bulk carrier African Kalmia (IMO 9666431, flag of Liberia), but received a much less warm welcome. «When we came to hand over the warning letter with the demand to conclude the agreement, the vessel has been inspecting by the PSC so the captain refused to communicate with us, citing lack of time. However, at our request ITF representatives must come on board at one of the following ports of call. »

Another vessel that the inspectors managed to visit was the container ship Neuenfelde (IMO 9231846) owned by the German company Reederei Bartels. The vessel is covered by the IBF collective agreement signed by the Ver.di, and the crew is completely satisfied. Some of the seafarers are Russians. The ship regularly calls the port of Kaliningrad, and in January last year it was also visited by inspectors, then the vessel changed the flag from German to the flag of Antigua and Barbuda. The union feared that the working conditions on board could be deteriorated, however, the inspectors did not find anything like this during the visit. Last year, due to the panic caused by the aggravation of the situation associated with the increase in the incidence of coronavirus in the region, we conducted fewer inspections than planned. However, now the vessels are visited quite regularly: «Nevertheless, in the current conditions, we will focus more on those vessels where there are complaints from seafarers, which are not covered by the collective agreements, or about which other inspectors have left notes regarding any kind of problems.»