Ajman: Seven sailors of a 15-member crew aboard a stranded chemical tanker drydocked in Ajman Port are expected to see an end to a labour dispute on Tuesday that has dragged on since mid-May over complaints of outstanding salary.
Chief Officer George Devadze, a Georgian national, told Gulf News on Monday that five of the seven sailors agreed to accept an offer from their employers on June 9, leaving only two other sailors and him to sign papers on Tuesday.
In May, seven sailors said they were no longer eating, alleging they had not been paid back pay since the beginning of the year.
“Five people have signed off and they were paid. Now a new captain is coming and we hope to have the rest of the remaining crew sign on Tuesday. We can then receive our pay, get our tickets and go home,” Devadze told Gulf News in an telephone interview from aboard the 127-metre-long merchant vessel, Fair Pigasos.
With the final papers rendered, “the ship can continue to do dry dock operations to do repairs”, Davadze said.
The latest progress marks the end of vocal complaints from Davadze who complained last month that amid deteriorating conditions on the vessel, seven crew members were owed an outstanding $180,000 (Dh661,131) in backpay. The total crew comprises Georgian, Indian and Sri Lankan sailors.
John Gray, fleet director of Fairdeal — the operating company overseeing the vessel — could not be immediately reached by telephone on Monday by Gulf News given the call would not go through.
However, at the start of the dispute last month, Gray told Gulf News that the firm was working to end the dispute and that some workers were paid.
The firm, he said, was working to conclude a handover of the ship to return it to working condition but said negotiations with some crew were not been productive at the time.
According to Gray, Fairdeal had made several efforts to pay outstanding wages to the striking sailors but said negotiations to remove the chief officer to make way for a new captain and chief officer had proved difficult.
Ship registration websites confirmed the vessel is in operation and is listed on online maps showing the ship as lying in Ajman port on Monday.
Fair Pigasos is a chemical carrier with a deadweight of 10,599 tonnes.
It was built by Xinshun Group of China and lists its homeport as Monrovia, Liberia.
