KEN EI
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Bulkcarrier in the middle of wage dispute
The "Ken Ei" was at the centre of allegations of “wage theft” from the International Transport Workers Federation after the steelmaker BlueScope and BHP dropped the Australian-crewed ships carrying iron ore from Western Australia to the steelworks, replacing them with foreign vessels crewed by overseas sailors. ITF inspectors were contacted by 20 Filipino seafarers on board the bulkcarrier which had been chartered by BlueScope, over unpaid wages. The Filipinos said they owned a total of $38,384. Upon arriving in Western Port, the crew immediately asked the ITF inspector about claims for payment for two coastal voyages and requested that the ITF contact the ship owner as they had no correspondence or indication that they would be paid by either the ship owner or charterers BlueScope and Rio Tinto. The ITF made enquiries and the wages were paid immediately after the ITF alerted them to their obligations under Australian law, In December 2018 alone, ITF inspectors conducted 761 inspections and recovered almost $2 million in wages stolen from the world’s seafarers.
Medevac off Dutch Harbor
An Air Station Kodiak Coast Guard MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew, deployed aboard to the Coast Guard Cutter "Alex Haley", medevaced a 40-year-old man from the "Ken Ei" 100 miles northwest of Dutch Harbor on Mar 1, 2014. Watchstanders of the Coast Guard 17th District command center in Juneau were contacted by the master of the vessel reporting that a crewmember was suffering from abdominal distress. The Coast Guard duty flight surgeon was contacted and concurred with the need for medevac due to the possibility of appendicitis. The Dolphin crew transported the patient to Dutch Harbor where he was transferred to a Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew, forward deployed to Cold Bay. The Jayhawk flew him to Cold Bay and transferred him to commercial medical services where he was flow to Anchorage for a higher level of care. Weather at the time of the incident was reported as 40 mph winds and 7-foot seas.
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