In August the Panama-flagged towing vessel ‘Diavlos Force’ left Piereus, Greece on a contract to transport a hull from a Romanian shipyard in the Black Sea to Norway. While on its way, the family of the ship’s crew alerted the Norwegian ITF Inspectorate that the crew on board was not paid as agreed.
The ITF’s new Inspector based in Bergen, Syver Grepstad, began working on the case.
“To be able to investigate the situation we established communication directly with the crew who were from Greece, Russia, the Philippines, India and Indonesia,” he said.
“We learned that the vessel would reach Norway in the beginning of September, after having not paid crew for a total of 6 months. Some of the crew had joined the vessel in June 2019 and would have almost 15 months on board.”
The inspectors handling the case alerted the Norwegian Maritime Authority (Port State Control) based on the severe breach of the MLC regulations. On arrival to Norway, both ITF representatives and those from the Authority were waiting on the pier. The Port State Control detained the Diavlos Force due to outstanding wages of USD $238,036.
press release
