The crew on board the m/v Xin Hai Tong 10 is not paid on time

The crew of the bulk carrier XinHaiTong 10 appealed to the ITF inspector in Novorossiysk, Olga Ananina, with request to obtain outstanding wage. The Russian seafarers have been on board since September 11, the Ukrainians - since September 16, ratings from Myanmar - for about three months, and since the beginning of service until recently, none of them has received a single payment. Although they were promised to transfer money more than once, the deadlines have constantly shifted. The total debt owed to the crew was $62,400, when the Ukrainian part of the team received payments for September the other day. The Russians and the Myanmar, however, did not even receive part of their salaries. The situation is alarming for sailors, especially considering that there are other problems on the ship: food for part of the crew has been a luxury for a long time, for which you need to pay extra.

So, according to the seafarers, the previous captain, a Chinese, sold garlic, onions, sugar, meat to Myanmar for money. Until he was replaced by a Ukrainian, the crew was not given soup at all, one egg was supposed to be for breakfast, and only if required. There were no spoons, no forks, and no bed linen. There is no Internet on board even now, and it disappeared after the crewmembers began contacting the captain and the company ( Hong Kong FORTUNE QUANZHOU SHIPPING LTD)  about non-payment of wages. Otherwise, these appeals remained without any response. «I must say that the company's attitude towards the Myanmar people is really special, and not in the best sense. The salary also speaks about discrimination on the basis of nationality: on average, these seafarers receive 2-3 times less than others for the same work. In particular, the debt to Oller from Myanmar for more than three months amounts to 2,700 US dollars, while a Ukrainian in the same position, working only since mid-September, earned 2,000.  Unfortunately, this is not so rare on ships without an ITF collective agreement. At the same time, the Maritime Labour Convention presupposes the principle of equal remuneration for equal work of all seafarers employed on the same vessel, without any discrimination, including on the basis of nationality».,-said Olga Ananina. In addition, there is a greatly reduced crew on board- only 14 people. Workers are sorely lacking in the engine room, where seafarers are nevertheless required to do all the work in full for the missing people. According to the ITF inspector in Novorossiysk, her appeal to the shipowner has also remained unanswered. The situation is complicated by the fact that at the moment the bulk carrier is going from Indonesia to China, where it is due to arrive on October 29. As Olga Ananina explained, it is almost impossible to arrest a vessel there – in this, as in many other matters, China has its own rules. The coup and the coming to power of the military junta in Myanmar complicates interaction with the local maritime trade union. In this regard, the ITF inspector asked the Hong Kong Maritime Department to sort out the situation with non-payments. At the moment, the department's response has not yet arrived.