Posted on 01/30/2025 4:46:57 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
More ships than ever are being abandoned around the world by their owners, according to the United Nations’ labor and maritime organizations, leaving thousands of workers stuck on board without pay or the means to travel home to their families.
Cases have doubled in the past three years, impacting more than 3,000 seafarers across some 230 ships in 2024, according to an Associated Press analysis of U.N. data. Last year’s figures could rise even further given the time that can elapse before vulnerable, frustrated workers reach out to report their plight.
By international guidelines, workers are considered abandoned if shipowners fail to pay two or more months of wages, provide basic supplies or otherwise stop communicating with the crew.
“The only leverage seafarers have sometimes is to stay on a vessel until they get paid,” said Helen Meldrum, a ship inspector with the International Transport Workers’ Federation, which advocates for ship workers’ rights.
A sailor gives a tour of the deteriorating conditions on board the Sister 12, the cargo ship where he has worked for more than a year without pay. (ITF)
It’s a phenomenon rarely visible from shore, and one hitting hardest the smaller shipping companies servicing less profitable trade routes. Many crews reporting a lack of pay are on corroded ships built decades ago. The top countries for cases last year were the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
The worst cases have seen entire crews suffering weeks without adequate food or fresh water, or living on dark ships without electricity. Some workers languish on board for years, such as Abdul Nasser Saleh, whom the Associated Press profiled last year in a story exploring abandonment in U.S. ports and abroad.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
I wish Trump would take up this issue. Some of the main culprit nations are said to be friends or allies of ours in the Middle East - United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
If you mean by “airdrop” you push them out of a plane then we shouldn’t do that.
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Should ... shouldn’t - times have changed and there are simply too many illegals to waste time and resources on like home country landings or parachutes.
Let G_d sort it out. PR be dammed, examples need to be set.
Pssst. I know where to find some abandon submarines. Want to start our own fleet?
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