Shipowner's Financial Woes Strand Seafarers for Six Months

Moroccan seafarers finally head home after owners abandoned their ships, but wages still unpaid

Moroccan seafarers left stranded in Spain after the ferry company they were working for ran into financial trouble have finally been repatriated after six months.

The ITF (International Transport Workers Federation) initiated a solidarity campaign earlier this year after workers from the ITF-affiliated Moroccan Workers’ Union (UMT), reported their abandonment on-board Comarit-Comanav vessels in Algeciras and Sete in France.

Action in support of the seafarers included solidarity strikes by dockers in Moroccan ports and a mass rally by maritime workers in Spain.

Now, after more than six months on-board the vessels with minimal food and fuel the final seafarers stranded in Spain are heading home, those on vessels in France have already been repatriated.

Jose Manuel Ortega, the national coordinator for the International Transport Workers’ Federation in Spain, said: “The ITF is providing assistance both in Morocco and in Spain for whatever appropriate legal action is necessary to recover their salaries."