[ruzbehxyz]

There are are many stories online where the owner abandons his ship and subsequently the crew. The crew who have no Visa or a port agent are forced to stay on board till such time that they are relieved to go home.

Here is a peculiar case where the Chief Officer of a cargo ship stayed onboard for almost 4 years isolated from the rest of the world. His ship was anchored south of the Suez canal. He was finally sent home in April 2021.

Here's the story:

Mohammed Aisha joined his "cursed" ship, the MV Aman, on 5 May 2017.



Today, after spending almost four years on board stranded off the Egyptian coast, he was freed and flown home to Syria. So how does he feel?

His text, from the aircraft on the tarmac at Cairo airport, was brief.

"Relief. Joy."

And then came a voice message.

"How do I feel? Like I finally got out of prison. I'm finally going to be rejoined with my family. I'm going to see them again."

It marks the end of an ordeal which has taken its toll on Mohammed's physical and mental health. He was, after all, condemned to a life without power, sanitation or company.

It began in July 2017, when the MV Aman was detained at the Egyptian port of Adabiya. The cargo ship was held because it had expired safety equipment and classification certificates.

It should have been easy enough to resolve, but the ship's Lebanese contractors failed to pay for fuel and the MV Aman's owners in Bahrain were in financial difficulty.

With the ship's Egyptian captain ashore, a local court declared Mohammed, the ship's chief officer, the MV Aman's legal guardian.

Mohammed, who was born in the Syrian Mediterranean port of Tartus, says he wasn't told what the order meant and only found out months later, as the ship's other crew members started to leave.

For four years, life - and death - passed Mohammed by. He watched as ships sailed past, in and out of the nearby Suez Canal.

During the recent blockage caused by the giant container ship Ever Given, he counted dozens of ships waiting for the traffic jam to ease.

He has even seen his brother, a fellow seafarer, sail past more than once. The brothers spoke on the phone but were too far apart even to wave.

In August 2018, he learned that his mother, a teacher responsible for his excellent English, had died. That was Mohammed's low point.

"I seriously considered ending my life," he told me.

By August 2019, Mohammed was alone but for the occasional guard and trapped on a vessel with no diesel and, consequently, no power. He was legally obliged to stay aboard and was unpaid, demoralised and feeling increasingly unwell.

He said the ship was like a grave at night.

"You can't see anything. You can't hear anything," he said. "It's like you're in a coffin."

In March 2020, a storm blew the Aman off its anchorage. The ship drifted five miles (8km), eventually running aground a few hundred metres from the shoreline.

It was terrifying at the time, but Mohammed thought it was an act of God. Now he was able to swim ashore every few days, buy food and recharge his phone.

Astonishing as Mohammed's story is, his experience is not unique. In fact, seafarer abandonment is on the rise.

According to the International Labour Organization, there are more than 250 active cases around the world where crews are simply left to fend for themselves. It says 85 new cases were reported in 2020, which is twice as many as in the previous year.

Meanwhile, at the Iranian port of Assaluyeh, 19 mostly Indian crew members of the bulk carrier Ula are on hunger strike after their vessel was abandoned by its owners in July 2019.

A crew member recently told the shipping journal Lloyd's List that the situation on board was "very critical", with depression rife and seafarers' families running out of money.

"The first time I came across one of these cases, I was in total shock," said Andy Bowerman, Middle East and South Asia director for the Mission to Seafarers.

From his base in Dubai, he has seen this happen time and again, usually for the same combination of reasons.

"We're currently working with a case here, where the company have a huge mortgage on the vessel, but their debts are way beyond that. So sometimes it is just easier to tell the crew to drop anchor and to almost literally walk away."

The Aman's owners, Tylos Shipping and Marine Services, told the BBC they had tried to help Mohammed but that their hands were tied.

"I can't force a judge to remove the legal guardianship," a representative told us. "And I can't find a single person on this planet - and I've tried - to replace him."

Mohammed, they said, should never have signed the order in the first place.

Mohamed Arrachedi of the International Transport Workers Federation, who took up Mohammed's case in December, said this should be a moment for everyone in the shipping industry to reflect.

"The case of Mohammed has to serve to open a serious debate to prevent these abuses to seafarers on ships," he told me.

The debate, he said, had to involve ship owners, port and maritime authorities and flag states.

"This drama and suffering of Mohammed Aisha could have been avoided if the owners and the parties with responsibilities and obligations to the ship had assumed their responsibilities and arranged his repatriation earlier."

For his part, Mohammed said he felt trapped in a situation not of his making, cornered by Egyptian law and ignored by the ship's owners . He said months would go by without communication - leaving him feeling let down and isolated.

It's enough, you might imagine, to make him think twice about going back to sea.

But he is determined. He says he is good at his job and wants nothing more than to pick up where he left off.

After he's caught up with his family, that is.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-56842506

https://youtu.be/1zD-KjuGuiM

[V.Narayan]

Thank you for sharing this heart wrenching tale with this man trapped between medieval Egyptian laws and courts and unscrupulous owners and managers of the ship. This is more common than most people realize especially with small time owners and the metaphorical Greek shipping methods.

I once had a relative stuck for 9 months off Bombay anchorage in 1989 due to some financial issues with the owners. And helping him proved to be a nightmare for me. In his case it was poor judgement on his part of where to seek employment and where to avoid.

Talking of Egyptians I am sure the Egyptian pilot who was on board MV Ever Given will go scot free even though IMHO he carries equal if not greater blame than the Master.

[TrackDay]

Is this not violation of basic Human rights ? To hold someone against their will, in a place deprived of basic amenities and fellow human beings to interact. What is to be done, if the person had fallen sick on board with no one to call for help ? There should be some law against such practices & if the port wants money, they should salvage/scrap the ship, not hold someone hostage.

[anandhsub]

Sorry if I am completely off the mark as I have 0 knowledge of the shipping industry.

However this seems more a racism issue than a financial or legal one. I wonder if the same would have happened if the "legal guardian" was an American or a European.

[ruzbehxyz]

Originally Posted by anandhsub

However this seems more a racism issue than a financial or legal one. I wonder if the same would have happened if the "legal guardian" was an American or a European.

The shipping industry is one of the most richest and regulated industries in the world. It is also one of the most dangerous professions in the world. An average ship carries cargo worth millions of dollars and the onus is very high on the ships Master and crew. One mistake can prove millions of dollars loss to the owners through vicarious liability. A typical example is the Ever Given which was discussed in detail on this forum.

So if there's an incident on board, the crew is the weak link and it is very easy to blame the crew and make them a scapegoat especially the Master, even though it may not be his fault. This is exactly what happened in the above case. The Master ran away and thus the Chief officer who was second in command became the scapegoat. So its not racist but the norm of the industry to blame one another, where the buck finally ends on the Master and his crew.

Finally it is the nationality of the particular crew that determines his release. And since this guy was a Syrian, he was totally forgotten and became helpless.

In this case, the Master was Egyptian and since the vessel was in Egypt, he managed to escape and the Chief Officer was made a scapegoat.

[GTO]

Here's a related thread of BHPian ShivrajG's brother-in-law being stuck on ship - Link (My brother-in-law & other Indian sailors are stuck on anchorage in China! Update: Back HOME)!

[RedTerrano]

Was reminded of this movie.
The Legend of 1900.

A baby boy, discovered in 1900 on an ocean liner, grows into a musical prodigy, never setting foot on land.

Heartily recommended. Do watch if you can.

https://youtu.be/wGEoA8_CJzk

[Gansan]

Even while serving for a brief period with my former employer's shipping division - shore job only, responsible for payroll - I saw quite a few strange and heart breaking incidents. Iranian gunboats chased and shot one of our tankers before a British warship came to our rescue and chased them away in the 80's. A few years later one Somali stowaway somehow got onboard and just could not be got rid of in any port. No country, including his own, was prepared to accept him. Because he had absolutely no documents to prove his nationality. He stayed aboard for many months. He was given basic accommodation, was fed, and given some simple jobs. Then finally he disappeared one day. It was rumoured he was offered a hefty bribe in dollars to disappear from the ship at some port during an overseas passage, and he did. The money was reportedly paid through an agent beforehand. But he did write a letter to the company many months later thanking us for caring for him, that we were the only ship that did not ill treat or beat him, and if he ever went as stowaway again, he prayed to the almighty it was on one of our ships again! God forbid!

He also gave some gyan to the crew as to how he selected the ships for going as stowaway. Greek ships were a strict no no, their masters and officers were the most pitiless. Because they were part owners of the ship, mostly. Also to select a ship that had women and children onboard -family members of officers sailing as supernumerary. Because chances of getting beaten or being starved in their presence was very less.

Then there was the case of a Captain who could not leave ship to attend his own dad's demise. It was peak Haj time. A reefer ship of our company was in the port of Fujairah, loading LPG. The captain was from Mumbai, and his dad suddenly passed away one night. Now, a ship can't be without a Master or a Chief Engineer according to maritime rules. If they have to leave ship someone else must relieve them. We had three masters standing by at Lucknow, Kochi and Chennai. But there were absolutely no seats available on any plane traveling to the middle east, despite the company trying their best through the most reputed travel agents. We even tried to send them through the opposite side of the world - Chennai-Singapore-USA-Middle East, but couldn't succeed. Finally the captain told his younger brother to carry out the last rites, and could come only for the 10th day ceremony.

Then there was the case of one fellow who sailed for us for a few years and left the company. Some years later we were contacted by a ship's agent from one European country. This was a Flag of convenience vessel. The crew are usually employed not directly, but through agents and sub agents. Apparently this fellow was sailing in that ship and while standing or hanging from the front part of the ship and taking soundings - I don't know the full details - fell in to the frigid waters, with temperature of just a few degrees C. Despite being a sailor well trained in swimming and wearing some kind of protective suit, this tropical creature could not withstand the cold of the water and by the time he was fished out and brought onboard he was dead.

They could not find his address for some reason but through some channel had narrowed down that we were his former employer some years ago, and could we track his address and be kind enough to inform the family? He had a wife and two small children. We found the address from our records, and it so happened the address was just a few streets away from where I lived. The head of shipping division called me and asked me if I will be kind enough to visit the family and break the news.

I was young, was horrified and absolutely refused. I would rather resign if compelled, but would not do it. But he understood, apologized to me and made the visit himself, along with one other senior person. Even though the fellow was no longer our employee and we were not responsible in any way.

Edit: There was a similar situation of lone sailor staying onboard a ghost ship, happened in our company also, when one of our tankers had to be laid up at Tuticorin port for nearly a year while the company decided whether to repair it or scrap it. But it was at the moorings, not close to the port. Two fully paid crew stayed onboard for one month at a time with basic power and sufficient food, before being relieved by another pair. But they clearly did not like the experience.

[aargee]

Dear Hollywood, Bollywood, Kollywood, Tollywood & other woods...welcome to make an exciting fortune out of this misery please!!

[ruzbehxyz]

In relation to the first post, here is the detailed story.


https://www.wsj.com/articles/sailor-...mobilewebshare

Some pictures from the link:














Reunited with family.