A cargo ship - Union Demeter - from China’s Jiangsu province China with 23 Chinese crew members on board, has been stranded at Haldia port in Purba (East) Medinipur district of Bengal since last December.
The issue surfaced on Monday when the captain of the ship, Dai Xiaosong called up Jiangsu News Radio and detailed his version of their plight. Mr. Dai reportedly said that they ran out of “food and water” and are “suffering”, the Chinese media reported.
Following this, a team of Delhi-based Chinese journalists were given access to the sailors, and are “expected” to be on board later on Tuesday, official sources told The Hindu.
“The journalists are expected to talk to the distressed crew members,” the source said. The vessel is owned by Nanjing Tranvast Holdings Limited and all crew members belong to Nanjing Yuanteng shipping company.
The Chinese Consulate in Kolkata is in touch to address the complex case of Union Demeter.
The Union Demeter case
The ship set off from Nantong, east China in July last year, unloaded at Haldia port in December, and has been detained since then, Chinese media reported. Nantong port on Yangtze and Kolkata port on Hooghly river has had trade links dating back a century. However, big vessels like Union Demeter accesses Haldia port instead of Kolkata port for many years.
According to Chinese media reports, Mr. Dai said other boats owned by Tranvast did not pay refuelling expenses, thus the Union Demeter was detained by order of a court in Bombay. In the same month when Union Demeter unloaded, the ship owner declared bankruptcy.
Sailors said they “haven't been paid for five months” and the total unpaid wages reached 1.5 million yuan, or 218,000 US dollars, the Chinese media reported.
“If there is no other company to take over the cargo ship, the Indian government will not release the crew,” Mr. Dai said in his radio interview.
“The stored food, drinking water and fuel on board are nearly used up, said the sailors, and the area they are trapped in has a high risk for dengue fever,” media reports said.
Manager Han Lei from the Yuanteng shipping company said they have asked agencies in India to supply necessities to the crew. He said the best solution is that the ship owner pays for the release of the crew and the berth, and then sells the ship to solve their financial problem. But the ship owner refused to contact the employer of the crew to talk about the issue, said Mr Han, Chinese media reports said.
As the ship is stranded, the cost of berthing at the port is increasing by the hour. It is “an astronomical amount”, a source in Kolkata Port Trust said.
However, official sources told The Hindu that, about two weeks back a separate Chinese vessel “supplied food and water” which “may have given some relief” to the sailors.
