13 Indians stuck on board ship detained in Indonesia

Most of the Indian crew members are from Maharashtra and their family members are in a panic, an official said

A total of 19 crew members including 13 Indians onboard the Bahamas flag oil tanker MT Strovolos, are being detained by Indonesian authorities at Port Batam. Sources told mid-day that on Saturday, “Marine Police came onboard Strovolos and flashed a Red Corner Interpol notice to arrest the crew members,” for allegedly loading barrels of crude oil without permission to anchor in Indonesian waters. The crew members include 13 Indians, 3 Bangladeshi and 3 Myanmarese. The  Forward Seamen’s Union of India has written to the Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways seeking its intervention to get the Indians home.

MT Strovolos arrived in Kris Energy Apsara Oil Field in Cambodia on November 9, 2020 as a  storage tanker. Drilling commenced and the vessel started receiving crude oil from end of December,” said a source. Most of the crew members have completed their contractual tenure and were ready to go to their countries. “The tanker was chartered to KrisEnergy (Apsara) Co. Ltd. The chartering company loaded the oil which it extracted from the Apsara Oil Field in the Gulf of Thailand. The owners of the vessel understood that the chartering company was contracted by the government of Cambodia as part of a commercial oil development projection and gave it the right to sell the oil. But the KrisEnergy Group ran into financial difficulties. It failed to comply with its obligation to pay hire and when informed by the Master of the vessel that it was running out of fuel, told the owners that they were unable to comply with their obligation to supply the fuel. For the safety of the crew, the cargo and the vessel, and to avoid a potential maritime/environmental casualty the vessel moved to the nearest convenient port to refuel,” said World Tankers, Singapore – the operators of MT Strovolos.

Sources from the vessel told mid-day, “All the crew members are culprit for robbery of state property and its maximum sentence is life imprisonment without any trial.” The General Secretary of Forward Seamen’s Union of India, Manoj Yadav has written to Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways on September 26, seeking its intervention in the release of the Indians and other crew. 

‘A soft target’

“Seafarers are always the soft target for the administration of any country. It is the responsibility of charterers and owners if any such uncertainty happens; seafarers are not responsible for such uncertainty,” Yadav told mid-day. “I have already written to the Central Government as well as to the Indonesian High Commission in Jakarta, requesting them to provide immediate support. So this is the right time for the government of India to intervene to provide immediate help to safeguard them (seafarers) from any legal complications in foreign land,” said Yadav.

The crew are employees of World Tankers Management

“The crew members are employees of World Tankers Management. They are in mental trauma as they are being thoroughly grilled by the marine police, Navy, Coast Guard in Indonesia. On Sunday, 10 crew members were taken to police base for a second round of interrogation,” Yadav said. “Most of the Indian crew members are from Maharashtra and their family members are in a panic,” he added.

The spokesperson from World Tankers Management, Singapore said, “After that the charter was terminated. As a matter of law, the vessel was not under any obligation to return to Apsara and whoever proves ownership and the right to sell the cargo is obliged to make arrangements to offload it upon payment of the sums owed to the owners.”

“The government of Cambodia has not provided any proof to the owners to support its claim that it owns the cargo on board the vessel. The charterers told the owners that they objected to the cargo being released to the government of Cambodia as that would be contrary to their ownership rights. The owners believe that there have been ongoing talks between the government of Cambodia, KrisEnergy and KrisEnergy’s receivers to come to an agreement about the sale of the oil on board the vessel and payment of the sums claimed. While waiting for a resolution the owners and the crew have taken proper care of the cargo at considerable expense and want nothing more than for it to be offloaded by mutual agreement as soon as practical. They moved the vessel to offshore Batam pending a long awaited crew change,” the spokesperson added.

‘Crew only did their duties’

“The crew on board the vessel have far exceeded their contractual period of employment and are entitled to be repatriated to their countries. They have done absolutely nothing other than perform their duties as seafarers in bringing the vessel first to a safe place to refuel and then to offshore Batam to await the crew change, he said.

“There has never been any intention or suggestion that anything would be done with the oil on board other than to offload it as soon as its ownership is proved, and an agreement is reached about payment to the owners of the money which they are owed.  The government of Cambodia has never proved to owners its claim that it owns the oil on board the vessel and no agreement has been reached with KrisEnergy about payment of the money owed to the owners,” the spokesperson added.

19
No. of crew members on board

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