From today’s Tradewinds newspaper – courtesy and copyright of Andrew Guest in London
Published: 11:05 GMT, 03 Oct 2008
German containership operator Hamburg Sud is dumping crews from the Pacific island nation of Kiribati after a second drugs bust on the same ship.
The decision comes after three Kiribati seamen on the Liberia-flag, 3,740-teu Cap San Augustin (built 2001) were arrested in Philadelphia on suspicion of drug-smuggling.
The same ship, serving the east coasts of US and South America, had been involved in an earlier drug-related incident also involving Kiribati seamen and the German owner has finally lost patience.
Warnings over such incidents and others involving drunkenness and fighting among seafarers from both Kiribati and the neighbouring country of Tuvalu appear to have failed to have the desired effect.
Five seafarers from the two Pacific island states were arrested in the US in July after heroin was found in their cabins.
South Pacific Marine Service (SPMS), the Kiribati-based employment agency owned by a group of German shipping companies, is studying the latest case before deciding what it can do to safeguard the jobs of other Kiribati seafarers.
Peter Lange, SPMS manager, told Pacific Magazine the remaining 12 Kiribati seamen on the Cap San Augustin were to be replaced shortly.
Restrictions placed on the Hamburg Sud containership after the drug arrests include bans on shore leave in any US port without strict permission and on crew guests boarding the ship in port.
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Published: 11:05 GMT, 03 Oct 2008
German containership operator Hamburg Sud is dumping crews from the Pacific island nation of Kiribati after a second drugs bust on the same ship.
The decision comes after three Kiribati seamen on the Liberia-flag, 3,740-teu Cap San Augustin (built 2001) were arrested in Philadelphia on suspicion of drug-smuggling.
The same ship, serving the east coasts of US and South America, had been involved in an earlier drug-related incident also involving Kiribati seamen and the German owner has finally lost patience.
Warnings over such incidents and others involving drunkenness and fighting among seafarers from both Kiribati and the neighbouring country of Tuvalu appear to have failed to have the desired effect.
Five seafarers from the two Pacific island states were arrested in the US in July after heroin was found in their cabins.
South Pacific Marine Service (SPMS), the Kiribati-based employment agency owned by a group of German shipping companies, is studying the latest case before deciding what it can do to safeguard the jobs of other Kiribati seafarers.
Peter Lange, SPMS manager, told Pacific Magazine the remaining 12 Kiribati seamen on the Cap San Augustin were to be replaced shortly.
Restrictions placed on the Hamburg Sud containership after the drug arrests include bans on shore leave in any US port without strict permission and on crew guests boarding the ship in port.
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