Sold to Breakers
News
SANTA CRUZ
Sold/Decommissioned
The 'Moby Corse', ex 'Santa Cruz', continues to dock in the port of Genova. In far from reassuring conditions, at least according to Danijela Djurdjevic, president of the Italy-Montenegro Regina Elena association, presumably collecting the testimonies of some members of the crew (which is in fact made up of Montenegrin, Croatian and Filipino sailors). Seven Montenegrin sailors have been living in Genova for a month in inhumane conditions. They were asking for urgent intervention to receive three and a half months’ wages in arrears and to be able to return home, after months of hard work maintaining the ship. The version was confirmed by Francesco Di Fiore, representative of the international union Itf: “Six months ago we obtained the judicial seizure of the ship, at which point the outstanding debts were paid. Then another three months passed without them being paid and now we are back to square one”. As Djurdjevic recalls, “Santa Cruz, flying the Italian flag, is owned by a Slovenian citizen. The Ministry of the Navy is aware of the situation: they have contacted the Montenegrin citizens and are looking for a way to help them. Three months without pay, with food supplies now exhausted. What remains has expired, according to what a crew member told , and the ship has no electricity, fuel or water. The owner promises something, but then nothing happens. The appeal for a new intervention, in addition to the ITF, is in particular, given the Italianity of the flag, to the Italian unions (Filt Cgil intervened on the occasion of the first ‘abandonment’). Di Fiore has however made known that in a few days an ITF inspector will visit the crew. A Croatian union representative notified the general command of the Coast Guard of the declaration of abandonment of ship.
