Currently, the ship's manager company Caribana Lines SA refuses to settle the payroll with the Caribana Express (IMO 7816123, Panama flag) vessel's crew - citizens of Ukraine, Cuba, and others, referring to financial difficulties.
According to our information, the vessel operated on the Spain - Algeria line, and from October 30, 2020, is in the port of Castellón de la Plana, Spain, where the crew's labour claim is handled by the ITF Inspection in Spain. The vessel was detained by the flag administration: it has several problems with documents.
Problems with which crew turned to the ITF for help were wage arrears (over six months) and overdue contracts (some crew members spent more than 12 months on the ship). Recently, ITF in Spain managed to sign off few crew members - citizens of Cuba, who were replaced by Ukrainian seafarers.
The union assumes that soon the company will try to replace the crew on the Caribana Express again, offering jobs to our Ukrainian seafarers. To avoid problems during the contract with this company, we strongly advise our seafarers not to accept employment offers on the Caribana Express.
