Chinese captain bars Indian crew from boarding ship at Andhra Pradesh's Kakinada port

Chinese captain bars Indian crew from boarding ship at Andhra Pradesh's Kakinada port
Srikanth Aluri / TNN / Sep 4, 2021 https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/vijayawada/chinese-captain-bars...

VIJAYAWADA: For more than one month, a Chinese national, who is the master of a cargo ship anchored at Kakinada port, has been denying a five-member Indian crew from boarding the vessel as part of a mandatory change of crew.

The master, Wang Zeyan, has even ignored an Andhra Pradesh high court order, asking him to allow the crew to board the vessel, MT Qian Tai 1. He has also not given any specific reason for not allowing the crew on board. The high court will now hear two petitions on September 8, one seeking the arrest of the vessel and another for contempt of court. MT Qian Tai 1 arrived at Kakinada Deep Water Port on July 8 for discharging 4,000 tonnes of crude palm oil. Later, it arrived at Kakinada Anchorage Port on July 12 for change of crew. The vessel has been stuck since then as the stalemate continues.

The high court orders to permit the Indian crew were communicated to Seacon Ships Managements, Hong Kong and its employee Wang Zeyan. However, Wang Zeyan denied entry to the Indian crew when they approached the vessel.

Speaking to TOI, N Ashwani Kumar, the advocate who filed the petition on behalf of Oka Ship Management of Singapore, said that Oka had moved a contempt petition against Seacon and Wang Zeyan for not complying with high court order.

He said they have also filed a civil suit admiralty jurisdiction petition for arrest of the vessel. Singapore-based Oka Ship Management Company has a standard ship management agreement with Seacon. MT Quian Tai 1, flying a Liberian flag, was headed to Indonesia. A mandatory crew change must be done at Kakinada before it reaches
Indonesia.

Oka, through its authorised crew supplier in India, designated Bhaskar as master of the ship, Pankaj Singh, chief engineer, Sukhraj Singh, chief officer, Pushpender Singh, second engineer and Jai Prakash, cook, to board the vessel at
Kakinada port.

Oka finally moved the high court under Section 9 of Arbitration and Conciliation Act. Ashwani Kumar told the high court that by not allowing the crew change, Seacon has breached the terms of contract.

Seacon did not represent its case in the first hearing. It has also not responded in the second hearing despite serving notices. Justice M Venkata Ramana on August 2 directed Seacon and Wang Zeyan to allow Indian crew members on board. He further said that the order does not inhibit or prohibit Wang Zeyan from discharging his duties as ship master but he shall assist the Indian crew members to board and discharge their duties.