The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) has banned container ship MSC Kia Ora (IMO 9364344) from Australian ports for three months after the operator failed to ensure that crew were paid their wages in full and on time, and that critical equipment was maintained.
AMSA inspected the ship in the Port of Brisbane on Wednesday March 14th after receiving a complaint which alleged that crew had been underpaid. During the inspection AMSA found evidence that crew had been underpaid for the previous four months (November 2017 to February 2018) and were owed more than A$53,000 (US$41,000). The wages owed had been transferred to the crew 24 hours before the inspection.
AMSA’s General Manager of Operations Allan Schwartz said that “failure to pay crew their wages in full and on time is a clear and unacceptable breach of the Maritime Labour Convention”.
Further breaches of the Maritime Labour Convention that placed the safety of the crew and the ship at risk, relating to hours of rest and fitness for duty, were also found during the inspection, Mr Schwartz said.
The inspection also revealed that two of the ship’s four generators were defective, as was the starboard main engine fire damper.
In total, 24 deficiencies were issued to the MSC Kia Ora and the ship was detained the same evening.
AMSA reinspected the vessel on March 25th and was satisfied that all detainable deficiencies had been rectified. She was released from detention and immediately issued with the three-month ban.
2006-built, Liberia-flagged, 9,940 gt MSC Kia Ora is owned by CF Lustre II LLV care of manager MSC Mediterranean Shipping Co SA of Geneva, Switzerland. ISM manager is Vega Reederei GmbH & Co KG of Hamburg, Germany. It is entered with Standard Club (Europe Division) on behalf of CF Lustre II LLC.