SOME 36 crew members of the cattle transport ship Yangtze Fortune have been stuck, abandoned and unpaid by their employer, at anchor in Portland for nearly three months.

The vessel has been in Portland waters since arriving with a cracked hull in need of repairs around September 28 this year - sitting at anchor -  aside from a brief trip to King Island to avoid bad weather, and has now been ordered by the Federal Court to be auctioned to recover the cost of debts.

The Australian Border Force, under orders from the Federal Court Admiralty Marshal, arrested the vessel for outstanding debts on December 2, after a number of creditors made claims that the ship’s owners owed them money.

An application to sell the ship came before Federal Court Judge Angus Morkel Stewart.  on Tuesday this week, brought by Singapore company Dan-Bunkering, which claims it is owed US$549,695 plus interest for supplies to the ship in July.

A second claimant, Australasian Global Exports Pty Ltd, initiated proceedings in Western Australia, of damages in the sum of US$2.3 million plus a $1 million for breach of a booking in mid-September.

In his judgement, Justice Stewart noted “the apparent lack of interest or involvement of the shipowner” in the ship’s affairs, including the need for the Marshal to purchase necessary refuelling and supplies for the crew.

Costs continue to mount for the owners as the ship remains under arrest, already more than quarter of million in costs to the Marshal, as well as legal costs and interest on top of the money owed, all of which needs to be covered before the crew is paid wages.

The ship is yet to be sold, and the matter is listed again for a case management hearing on February 9. 

A federal court representative told the Observer this week that “the sale of the ship is obviously an ongoing process.”

The Liberian flagged ship is managed by a Singapore company called Union Marine Management Services, which is responsible for 53 ships around the world including the Fortune’s sister ship the Yangtze Harmony, which has been arrested under similar circumstances in Singapore.

Some of the court claims list Hong Kong outfit Yangtze Fortune Co Ltd, represented in these court proceedings by Aus Ship Lawyers, as the owner company of the vessel.

The Filipino crew are members of an affiliate union of the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), who have taken on the task of ensuring they get the pay they are due, as well as looking after their welfare until then.

After months stuck on board, ITF assessor who visited the ship requested that the vessel come into port to resupply and the Yangtze Fortune docked along the Lee Breakwater on Thursday, December 15, and the crew were able to leave the ship.

ITF Australia’s assistant coordinator Matt Purcell said their ship’s last port of call in China did not allow them ashore, so they would not have felt ground beneath their feet in many months.

As for their welfare, he said the crew are in good health and have access to phones to call home, and the Philippines Embassy have been in contact about helping work on providing them with some more comforts and hopefully some luxuries to allow them to celebrate Christmas properly.

“There are different sets of information on what the crew are owed, but after going through logs and a range of other documents on the ship over the last 72 hours we put the number in the vicinity of $US285,000,” Mr Purcell said.

“The operators have indicated that they have not got much hope of raising that amount on their own.”

“The crew won’t leave the ship until they get what’s owed to them, but it begs the question after that of what happens to the ship and who crews it, I think people in Portland are going to become very used to the sight of it.”

He said the insurance taken out on the ships will cover two months’ pay (around $150,000) and flights home for the crew, but outstanding debts beyond that will have to be covered later, if the federal court approves the ship being auctioned.

Though with the insurance expiring at the end of this year, this avenue of repayment may not be a sure thing for the crew.

The total amount owed by the owners for the two arrested ships, is at least US$5m, Mr Purcell said, which would easily be covered by the sale of the Fortune.

“They’re worth probably between US$8m to US$10m, even for scrap they’d get around US$8m, and whatever is left the ship owner would get.”

Mr Purcell said he expects the insurance money will come through at some point next month, while the rest of the pay depends on how soon the ship can be sold.

This kind of situation is relatively uncommon in Australia, he said, last seen in 2005 with another livestock vessel the Mawashi Al Gasseem, which was arrested in Adelaide owing around US$1m.

Port of Portland Harbour Master Andrew Hays said the ship had come into Portland to pick up a load of cattle, but the damage had forced it to wait, and the crew had been sitting at anchor until the vessel was arrested.

He said the ship has come into Portland a couple of times previously, and did regular Australian livestock loads.

The Port’s role in the misadventure was just to provide a berth for the ship and allow it to resupply, when necessary, while resolving the financial issues falls on the Federal Court Admiralty Marshal, Mr Hays said.

An Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) spokesperson said that while it is not responsible for the vessel being detained, the Federal Government body is monitoring the circumstances of the livestock carrier.

“AMSA continues to monitor the crew welfare on board the vessel and is working with the Admiralty Marshal to ensure that crew welfare and entitlements are maintained,” a spokesperson said.