Shame of Hong Kong shipping company revealed in serial instances of crew abandonment

Yangtze Harmony crew (source ITF)
 

The Filipino crew of a livestock carrier abandoned in Singapore have finally returned home, following the intervention of the International Transport Workers’ Federation.

The crew suffered six months detention on the Yangtze Harmony after the vessel was arrested last October over an unpaid fuel bill. At that point Zhong Kong-based Soar Harmony Shipping ceased paying the crew’s wages and no way home. Eventually the wage bill reached US$429,972.
 

The ITF noted that Soar Harmony Shipping was also the owner of a sister ship Yangtze Fortune, a sister ship seized in December 2023 by the Australian Federal Court in Victoria after the owner failed to make urgent repairs to the vessel. TheITF stepped in and managed to reduce the ship’s minimum manning level to 16 from 30, allowing the remaining seafarers to be repatriated ahead of their colleagues.
 

“Between Yangtze Harmonyand Yangtze Fortune, the ITF’s months of advocacy [recovered] US$1m in backpay owed to the crew, as well as flights home and the feeling of freedom for every one of the 43 thankful seafarers,” the ITF said.

Source: Hong Kong Maritime Hub

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