GOL Offshore at it again. Vessel detained, again.

The Malaviya Seven offshore support vessel has caught the media attention again, and not for a good reason, again.

To remind the Indian-flagged vessel had been detained in the UK in June after the owner had not paid its workers for months. At the time, the RMT union slammed what it described as a “blatant example of modern day slavery.” The vessel was released on August 5.

However, the offshore vessel, owned by India’s GOL Offshore, has now been detained again, for similar reasons. This has been confirmed to Offshore Energy Today by the UK’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA).

In a statement sent to OET, the MCA spokesperson said: “We can confirm that the Malaviya Seven was detained again on Wednesday 5 October in Aberdeen. It has been detained due to non-payment of crew wages, expired Seafarers Employment Agreement and no account of seafarers wages.”

The MCA spokesperson said on Thursday that the offshore support vessel would remain under detention until all the issues have been resolved.

“Only then will it be reinspected,” the MCA spokesperson said.

Worth noting, this is not the only vessel by Gol Offshore where the crew is not paid. The Malaviya Twenty offshore vessel was detained in Great Yarmouth in August after similar deficiencies were discovered.

ITF: We won’t stop!

The International Transport Workers’ Federation, which previously assisted the crews of the Malaviya Seven and Twenty in Aberdeen and Great Yarmouth, to get the wages, said the latest detention comes despite warnings from the ITF that unless all crew members were paid it would assist the crews to arrest the vessel

ITF UK and Ireland coordinator Ken Fleming stated: “We have repeatedly made it clear that we won’t stop until everyone gets what is owing to them. The company now has until 15 October to pay or we will move to have the Malaviya Seven arrested. The same applies to the Malaviya Twenty in Great Yarmouth.”

In Great Yarmouth, ITF inspector Paul Keenan has presented the MCA with evidence that on the Malaviya Twenty, four crew members who remained on the vessel have not been paid since July, three crew who were signed off have not been paid despite assurances given by the company to the MCA, and nine new crew have not been paid in August. In the light of these infringements of the Maritime Labour Convention the ITF has asked the MCA to reinspect the ship and then reinstate the detention which was lifted following the company’s now failed promises of action.

Offshore Energy Today Staff