Pinoys among seamen stranded at US port due to shipowner’s debts

Unpaid company bills have left 18 Filipino and Ukrainian seamen, together with an Egyptian captain, stranded aboard a Greek-owned cargo ship at a port in Delaware River since April, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported this week.

Despite the US Customs giving “paroles” to the ship’s crew members whose contracts have expired, all seamen on board have to wait for the operators to settle their accounts with the US Customs and various suppliers.

Cargo ship Nikol H has remained anchored at Pier 84 due to engine problems. It has owed with pier operator $300,000 for six weeks’ worth of wharfage, stevedoring, and other fees.

Suppliers have also sued the boat owners for services and supplies rendered to the cargo ship during its anchorage.

The ship delivered 13,521 tons of cocoa beans on April 11, but was ordered to remain at Pier 84.

If the operating company from Piraeus, Greece could not pay all of its bills in time, the ship may be auctioned off after getting repairs.

Seamen’s Church Institute pastor Bill Rex told CBS Philadelphia that morale is good among the crew members, but most of them want to come ashore to “stretch their legs.”

“These men are caught between a rock and a hard place – between the company and their debtors,” Rex told CBS Philadelphia.

The institute has provided the crew members with mobile phones and Internet access so they can call their families.

Capt. Ali Affar, however, told the Philadelphia Inquirer the crew members “are getting paid on time” and receiving food and water provisions as well.
Source: GMA News