A fishing vessel suspected of engaging in labor abuses was detained by the South African government on Aug. 3, days after a workshop led by the International Labour Organization in collaboration with the ILR School.

It was the first such action by the South African government in nearly five years.

“It’s no exaggeration to say that shoppers pay more attention to the fish than the fishers,” said Jason Judd, executive director of the New Conversations Project. “And although trade policy in the U.S. and the ‘ethical trade’ codes of seafood retailers protect fishers from forced labor, for example, they’re not effectively enforced. So it’s good to see the South African government putting to use what the ILO and Cornell are teaching, and good to see SAMSA acting on reports of labor abuses on fishing vessels.”

Dangerous working conditions and labor abuses in commercial fishing are common around the world. But enforcement actions to protect fishers are not. So the detention of the Taiwanese-flagged vessel with a largely Indonesian and Filipino crew – with a detention order noting likely violations of safety and health standards and problems with fishers’ pay and contracts – was hailed by labor experts.

The inspection and detention of the fishing vessel by the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) in Durban came within days of a labor inspection workshop led by the International Labour Organization in collaboration with the ILR School’s New Conversations Project in Cape Town. The South African government detained the foreign-flagged fishing vessel based on a tip from a labor rights organization over concerns regarding worker safety.

“It’s one thing to read case studies and talk about these concepts and new tools. It’s something else to test them out. So we went onto three fishing vessels – two foreign-flagged, one South African – in the Cape Town port for practice inspections,” Judd said. “We also covered two other difficult topics: cooperation between agencies and tightening up enforcement regimes. It’s good to see it coming together like that in Durban.”

The four-day training brought together roughly 50 people who work in South African government agencies connected to the fishing industry – including labor, maritime safety and immigration – and unions and worker rights organizations.

The workshop used the ILO’s Work in Fishing ILO Convention, 2007 and SAMSA’s inspection protocols to shore up detection of labor violations under South African law and to ensure that fishers, receive, among other things:

• improved occupational safety and health and medical care at sea, and shore care for sick or injured fishers
• sufficient rest for their health and safety
• protection of a written work agreement
• same social security protection as other workers

In the workshop, Judd taught how to identify forced labor in fishing and presented two new tools under development with the ILO to help assess fishing crews, working conditions and labor protections. The first is a checklist of quantitative measures used to estimate the likelihood of forced labor risk on boats, such as assessing if the vessel does not have enough personnel, has been at sea for an extended period of time, or is providing suspiciously uniform reporting of hours of rest for its crew. The second tool establishes employer and supervisor interview protocols and tools to pinpoint labor practices and flag possible abuses.

SAMSA reported in mid-August that the vessel was released after the owner and fishers resolved a range of issues, including training of the crew, staffing of the vessel, treating an injured and hospitalized fisher, reconciling outstanding payments and more. “But costs for flying home were borne by fishers themselves,” Judd said. “So it was not a total success but, for SAMSA, a step forward and we hope other governments will follow suit.”

The New Conversations Project and ILO published in 2022 an analysis of changes in work in fishing in Southeast Asia in the COVID pandemic and, again with the ILO, proposes to take the new tools and protocols to Peru and Ecuador and Southeast Asia.

Source: https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2022/08/ship-detained-after-ilr-workshop-labor-abuse-among-fishers

Tug boats refloated an oil tanker that was briefly stranded in Egypt’s Suez Canal late on Wednesday due to a technical fault with its rudder, the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said.

The vessel, Affinity V, had been blocking the southern section of the canal, two navigational sources said, but SCA sources said shortly after midnight local time that traffic had returned to normal.

The incident occurred in the same southern, single-lane stretch of the canal where a giant cargo ship, the Ever Given, ran aground for six days in March 2021, disrupting global trade.

According to ship monitoring service TankerTrackers, the Aframax tanker Affinity V seemed to have lost control in the Suez Canal on Wednesday evening while heading south.

“She temporarily clogged up traffic and is now facing south again, but moving slowly by tugboat assistance,” TankerTrackers said on Twitter.

Refinitiv ship-tracking data and the Marine Traffic website also showed the Affinity V facing southwards and traveling slowly in the canal, surrounded by tugs.

The Singapore-flagged tanker was headed for the Red Sea port of Yanbu in Saudi Arabia, the tracking sites said.

After the Ever Given ran aground, the SCA had announced accelerated plans to expand the canal, including extending a second channel that allows shipping to pass in both directions along part of its course and deepening an existing channel.

Work on the expansion is due to be completed in 2023.

Source: https://www.marinelink.com/news/tanker-refloated-running-aground-suez-499155

A bulk carrier that collided with an LNG tanker off Gibraltar started leaking fuel oil, authorities in the British overseas territory on the southern tip of the Iberian peninsula said on Wednesday.

The collision on Tuesday forced the closure of the Gibraltar port for four hours. It was later fully reopened.

The hull of the bulk carrier OS 35 broke, authorities said, but the vessel has not separated into two parts.

“There has been a substance leak from the vessel as a result of the movement arising from its break. Initial investigations indicate that this is lube oil,” the Gibraltar government said in a statement.

“Current evidence suggests the fuel on board is well contained and it is hoped that offloading can begin tomorrow.”

The collision happened as the vessel OS 35, loaded with steel bars and carrying over 400 tonnes of fuel, was moving to exit the bay. The Marshall Islands-flagged ADAM LNG arrived in Gibraltar after unloading in Malta. It remains at anchor near the place where the collision took place.

The Gibraltar Port Authority directed the OS 35 to the east side to ensure it could be safely beached to minimize the risk of the vessel sinking. Its 24-strong crew were evacuated.

Source: https://www.marinelink.com/news/bulker-breaking-leaking-oil-collision-off-499156

Container on working deck of offshore supply ship ASSO exploded, killing three crew and injuring one, in the evening Aug 31 at Crotone Port, Calabria, southern Itaaly, Ionian sea. ASSO was about to set sail for Malta. Land fire teams and tug were deployed, fire understood to be extinguished in some two hours.

Source: https://www.fleetmon.com/maritime-news/2022/39365/container-explosion-offshore-ship-3-crew-died-ital/

Aframax tanker AFFINITY V ran aground on 143 kilometer mark because of steering (rudder) failure, while transiting Suez Canal in southern direction, halfway between Bitter Lakes and Suez. Tanker in ballast ran aground at around 2256 UTC Aug 31, Canal Traffic Control tugs quickly responded, and she was refloated half an hour later, according to track and timeline. Tanker completed transit and was anchored at Suez Anchorage at around 0230 UTC Sep 1. Tanker is en route from Portugal to Saudi Arabia, no damages are reported.

Source: https://www.fleetmon.com/maritime-news/2022/39369/aframax-tanker-ran-aground-refloated-suez-canal/