UK-operated vessel detained in Spain for labour violations

Spain’s Faro de Vigo news outlet reports that a vessel operated by oil and gas service company Surf Subsea UK has been detained by Spanish authorities following complaints of violations of the Maritime Labour Convention.

The Marshall Islands-flagged well intervention vessel Go Electra has been in the custody of the Maritime Captaincy, a subordinate agency of the Spanish Ministry of Public Works, in the port city of Vigo since Friday, March 29.

Paris MoU inspectors who had boarded the vessel following its seizure discovered that the crews’ salaries were being withheld.

The inspectors also noted the vessel’s “total lack of maintenance” but gave no further details.

The detention of Go Electra was said to have been ordered by local authorities after they received information on the crews’ living and working conditions from the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF).