Unions are calling for political intervention in order to help foreign sailors who have been stranded on a vessel in Aberdeen Harbour for the past four months.
The MV Malaviya Seven was initially held up in Aberdeen harbour in June after claims its crew of 13 had not been paid for months while working in the North Sea.
The Mumbai-registered supply vessel, which is owned by Indian company GOL Offshore, and its Indian staff, was chartered by BP in the first half of June.
It was allowed to leave the harbour in August after a pay deal was settled.
But it returned to the Granite City in October and was detained on the same grounds again by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.
Since then its crew have been unable to return home.
The International Transport Workers’ Federation revealed yesterday that the crew of sister vessel the Malaviya 20, which was impounded at Great Yarmouth last year also in connection with overdue wages, had finally been paid in full and allowed to return home.
The ITF is now moving to arrest the Aberdeen docked vessel on the crew’s behalf in order to secure them the wages and tickets home to which they too are entitled.
However RMT national secretary Steve Todd said industry and political leaders should speed up the process.
He said it amounted to a “criminal act” to keep the crew out of pocket and thousands of miles from their loves ones.
Mr Todd said: “I think it’s disgraceful that these people have been left hanging like this for so long. Already they have been months on end on the vessel without payment and without being able to go home.
“Some companies are not just content on bringing people in at the lowest rate of pay, some don’t want to pay them at all.
“It’s absolute criminal to leave them sitting there without their pay, without being able to get home to their families.
“We are calling for everyone, both in politics and industry, to do what they can to bring this sad story to an end.”
Both vessels have been docked and unable to leave the UK since they were stopped by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency last year.
The boats and their crews were effectively “abandoned” by their Indian owners after being detained by the coastguard, according to the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF).
However, the ITF announced last night that it had secured a victory for the 12 strong crew of the Malayvia 20 with the wages finally paid and the men allowed to return home.
ITF inspector Paul Keenan said: “The bank which owned the ship contacted us and sent a representative over to meet with the ITF in January. They agreed to pay all owed wages to the crew currently on the vessel and those who had left earlier.
“The bulk of the wages were paid by bank transfer, and the rest was paid in cash on board the vessel last Friday. In all $689,679 was paid to a total of 33 crew who were owed wages dating back to October 2015.”