Lawyers have moved to arrest the Malaviya Seven in an effort to recover wages owed to the crew aboard the offshore supply vessel.
The ship, owned by Indian company GOL Offshore, has been detained in Aberdeen harbour since October.
Earlier this week, lawyers acting on behalf of the crew asked Aberdeen Sheriff Court for the authority to arrest the ship.
A spokesman for the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), which appointed the crew’s legal team, said today that the process could take 12 to 16 weeks.
The crew should then be able to return home with their wages, he said.
The Malaviya Seven was first stopped in June amid claims staff members had not received their wages for months while working in the North Sea.
The Mumbai-registered ship was allowed to leave the harbour in August after a pay deal was settled.
But the Malaviya Seven returned to the Granite City in October and was again prevented from leaving by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.
At the time of its initial detention, the RMT union described the incident as an example of “modern day slavery”, while Aberdeen MPs Callum McCaig and Kirsty Blackman wrote to the then Home Secretary Theresa May calling for a full investigation.
Its sister ship, the Malaviya Twenty, was detained in June by authorities in Great Yarmouth.