Judge orders Guyanese sailors to sell Nigerian ship

The Nigerian ship MT Tumini is anchored off the Trinidad Cement Limited (TCL), Claxton Bay jetty where the Guyanese sailors were stranded since 2013 because they refused to leave and return to their country, fearing that owners of the vessel in Nigeria could quietly sail the MT Tumini back to Africa and not pay them their wages.

High Court judge Devindra Rampersad made the order in a lawsuit the ship’s local agent, Gerald Andrews, and the five men, had filed last year against MT Tumini’s financiers - Eco- Bank Nigeria Limited. The crew had decided to take legal action when they see ‘water more than flour’ , to claim their wages, and petitioned the High Court to arrest the ship under Admirality laws. The grounds on which they did so, was based on the fact that the ship’s owners in Nigeria, Africa, refused to pay their wages and have left them stranded on the vessel.

Andrews is claiming, according to Justice Rampersad’s order, US$502, 425.59. The rest of the crew’s wages and fees amount to approximately TT$6 million.

Rampersad further ordered that the MT Tumini be valued by a Marine surveyor and that the sale be carried out by private treaty, but should attempts fail to sell within the next nine months, then the vessel would be sold by private auction.

The judge further ordered that $50,000 be deposited into the court. The judge’s order lists that the attorneys are to be paid the cost of the claim out of the proceeds of the claim, amounting to US$128,196.00 which is approximately TT$877,000.

Advertisements have been published in the daily newspapers about the sale but checks yesterday with persons responsible for the sale, revealed that no buyers have yet come forward to purchase the vessel.

The M T Tumini sailed to Trinidad six years in December 2008 after Petroleum Brokers Ltd of Nigeria bought the vessel from a Florida-base company which was working the vessel in the Caribbean, transporting fuel and industrial water.

The ship’s new management from Nigeria then recruited the five nationals of Guyana to work the vessel in 2009, but some time later, they discovered that the MT Tumini needed extensive repairs.

Eco Bank Nigeria Limited took over the mortgage on the vessel and continued to finance it for proposed operations in Trinidad.

However, in 2013 the ship was abandoned and men were left to fend for themselves in the vessel.

Up to September 2013, they men were owed approximately US$215,000. They are: Rakesh Jim (Chief Mate); Foy Fredericks (Chief Engineer); Laurence Daniel (second Engineer); Mohamed Gadwah (second officer); Neil Rampersaud (Assistant Engineer/ oiler).

In mid to late 2013, their money and provision began to run low when they stopped receiving wages, but the crew stood their ground and continued to live on the MT Tumini. They pleaded with the then government to seize the ship under International Maritime Law.

With the crew running out of funds to even purchase drinking water, the Guyanese men sent an email to the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) in London seeking held, but they were advised not to leave the vessel for fear that they would lose their wages.