About 170 people are feared to have drowned in two separate shipwrecks in the Mediterranean. In one incident, a dinghy sank off the coast of Libya with 117 people on board, while 53 people were reported missing in a boat lost between Morocco and Spain.
Dozens of migrants and refugees are feared to have drowned off the coast of Djibouti after two overcrowded boats capsized. Two survivors were recovered but at least 38 people were confirmed dead as they tried to cross the Bab al-Mandab Strait from the Horn of Africa to the Arabian Peninsula.
Armed robbers continue to pose a threat to seafarers and shipping off West Africa, despite patrols by local navies. The most recent incidents reported to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) worldwide 24-hour Piracy Reporting Centre (PRC) include the following.
Wage theft aboard a BlueScope chartered foreign-flagged ship in Port Kembla has been exposed after intervention from the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF).
“On behalf of the 18 million transport workers of the ITF, I send support and solidarity to the workers of Belgium in their campaign to win a fair share of their countries wealth.
On the back of the recent sacking at sea of Australian seafarers by BHP and BlueScope facilitated by the Morrison government, workers and the Maritime Union of Australia have set up a ‘Save Australian Shipping’ jobs embassy on the lawns of Parliament House in Canberra.
A seafarer aboard an 80,000-tonne bulk carrier, the Villa Deste, contacted the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) pleading for help. The starving crew claims to have no food and no onboard wages, and being fed on a $4 food budget per day.
Maritime unions in Canada have taken solidarity action in support of colleagues in Australia sacked after an Australian shipping company decided to replace them with foreign crew on flag of convenience (FoC) vessels – employed on lower pay and with poorer conditions.
A Louisiana court has fined a tanker company USD2 million and sentenced it to four years’ probation after it was convicted of illegally discharging oil from one of its tankers and then attempting to cover this up.
