Sailors onboard the Mt Iba are owed years' worth of wages and have not set foot on land since 2017. Alco Shipping representatives had repeatedly made promises that workers would receive wages and compensation following the vessel's sale, but quarantine measures and labour court closures during COVID-19 have delayed the auction.

By February 2021, some of the crew had been onboard for 43 months and had not been paid since 2018, accruing owed wages of over $170,000. An agreement was reached on the outstanding salaries that the five-person crew would receive $165k following the sale of the vessel to another company. Alco Shipping has agreed to cover the cost of the sailors' repatriation.

In May 2021, after spending nearly four years onboard of the abandoned ship Mt Iba, the five sailors are set to fly back home. The ship was sold in March and the crew can now be paid nearly $ 170k; 80 percent of what they were owed.