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Crews of abandoned ships left in limbo

Aboard several ships of the Turkish company Palmali, the crews have worked for a year or more, but did not receive the money earned. The 'Caspian Mariner' in Istanbul is one on the list of abandoned Palmali vessels. Others are the 'Agdash' and 'Captain Nagdaliyev'. The crews of the 'Captain Nagdaliyev' and 'Agdash' were already assisted by an ITF coordinator. The 'Agdash', anchored in the Siez Canal has also an expired validity of registration and insurance certificate. The crew of 'Captain Nagdaliyev' was in a dangerous position, only a ton of drinking water remained on the ship. Despite this, the sailors continued to fulfill their duties. At the same time, families have been sitting for several months without money. The situation with the crew of the 'Captain Nagdaliyev' is even more complicated.Since May 12, 2020, the tanker has been under arrest for Palmali debts. Large amounts were not paid for the bunker. The company owed debts to all crew members. The sailors worked out the contracts, and then they had to stay on board for another 4-10 months. They did not receive money, but they even heard threats addressed to them. The 'Caspian Mariner' was waiting for repairs on the roads of the port of Yalova. Air conditioning and fans do not work on board in times with more than 30 degrees C during the day and 28-30 degrees at night. The crew has worked for a year or more and did not get paid all the time. There was no help from the company. Moreover, the sailors were intimidated and forced to sign fake payroll statements.

Erdogan family acquired tanker through offshore deal

The family of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are owners of a 26.5-million-euro ($29.64-million) oil tanker, which was acquired under a secretive offshore arrangement, a consortium of European news outlets reported Friday. The Belgian newspaper Le Soir, Spain's El Mundo, L'Espresso of Italy and the French online site Mediapart are members of European Investigative Collaboration (EIC), a cooperative initiative in investigative journalism. The outlets began publishing on May 19 an investigation called the "Malta files," delving into more than 150,000 documents from the Mediterranean tax haven. The Maltese government has said there are no secrets to be found in the cache. According to Friday's report, the Erdogan family became owners of an oil tanker called Agdash through companies registered in Malta and on the Isle of Man, a UK tax haven. A quarter of the finance was provided by Sitki Ayan, a Turkish businessman who is a friend of the Erdogan family, and three-quarters by a Turkish-Azeri billionaire, Mubariz Mansimov, who owns the Istanbul-headquartered transport group Palmali, the report said. EIC said that neither Erdogan's office, members of the family said to be involved in the operation, nor Mansimov nor Ayan answered requests to respond to the report. Source : AFP

Overloading or else?

General cargo vessel Remo (IMO 7419365) en route Riga – Flushing was detained in Brunsbuettel for overloading on Nov 24 while passing North Lock, reported vesseltracker.com. Vessel berthed in Elbe port. On Nov 14 Palmali’s tanker Agdash was detained under the same pretext. Tanker was said to offload extra 200 tons and then resume voyage, but actually the company Palmali and the Master proved to the authorities that the alleged safety violation didn’t take place and vessel was safe. Tanker was released soon after detention and resumed voyage without any repercussions. Most probably Remo detention was initiated by the Safety Department of the Trade Association, as was the case with Agdash. Is the Safety Department of the Trade Association way too watchful, or is it motivated by some other considerations? Maritime Bulletin http://www.odin.tc