THE International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) has accused the owner of a tugboat of abandoning his crew in Puget Sound, an inlet in the Pacific Northwest, Washington State,USA.
The crew has been aboard the Wycliffe since last month. The tug was supposed to tow two Washington State Ferries to Ecuador, but the towing operation was unsuccessful and the contract was terminated.
Since then, the Wycliffe has been in Puget Sound’s harbour, with four seafarers, who for legal reasons cannot go ashore and are currently forced to live on board, in what is becoming a prison, with inadequate food, insufficient water supplies and limited access to medical care.
U.S. Customs & Border Protection had initially planned to repatriate the four seafarers from Colombia, Peru, and Panama, but ITF intervention delayed the operation until the crew received their full wages from the shipowner.
Another factor to be taken into account is that the Wycliffe, formerly flying a U.S. flag, changed its flag to a Vanuatu one. According to the ITF this was dictated by the shipowner’s clear intention to escape the more stringent U.S. standards on safety and working conditions.
The Wycliffe has had a troubled track record. The ITF reports that previous crews had apparently left the vessel for safety reasons in October 2023 and May 2024.
Translation by Giles Foster
