ITF: Stolt Kikyo Crew Receive Australian Coastal Premiums

Norwegian shipping company Stolt-Nielsen has settled the coastal trading payments owed to the Chinese crew of the Stolt Kikyo tanker for the time the vessel spent in Australian waters, the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) reports.

Back in July, the ITF investigators boarded the Liberian-flagged Stolt Kikyo, jointly owned by Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) and Stolt-Nielsen, while the tanker was berthed at Devonport, Tasmania.

The investigation revealed that the 24 crew members were owed two months’ wages as well as the coastal payments, totalling AUD 250,000.

Investigators found that while the vessel’s payroll records were well documented, the premium payments were being processed in arrears once funds had been received by the charterer.

Since the investigation, the ITF says that  Stolt changed its policy so that the crews are paid prior to receipt of those funds.

”We welcome the company’s change of policy regarding these payments to all its Chinese seafarers, together with its willingness to establish a better future relationship with the ITF,” the ITF inspectorate co-ordinator Steve Trowsdale said.

“Our Australian inspector was pleased to accept the invitation from Stolt Norway to meet its representatives in November in order to help the company restructure the way it pays its Chinese crews.”