Evalend Shipping's response
Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited Evalend Shipping to respond to allegations published by the World Maritime News that crew aboard Liberian-flagged ship Villa Deste owned by the Greek company, Evalend Shipping Company S.A., were neglected, with limited food, as well as being underpaid whilst berthed at a BHP terminal in Queensland, Australia.
The company responded:
"Thank you...for the opportunity to respond to these false allegations. The position is that the information published by the ITF is totally inaccurate.
As soon as this matter was brought to our attention, we contacted the Master of the vessel to request clarification and to enquire as to whether any relevant complaints have been made by any of the crew members. The Master’s response was that no such complaint has been made by any crew member for any other reason whatsoever. To the contrary, the crew are happy with the conditions on board the vessel, which as you may know is brand new- as she is less than 6 months old. We were further advised than neither of the crew members had in fact contacted the ITF and/or made any such statements. In fact, the crew members were quite surprised to hear that such an issue exists and have confirmed that they are all happy and satisfied with the provisions on board.
The crew were certainly never ‘starving’ and neither have they not been paid. Both statements are completely inaccurate and therefore nothing short of libelous. The vessel has been supplied regularly with supplies/provisions of good quality and of course there are no outstanding wages to the crew.
Please also kindly note that the Master has been in direct contact with AMSA who made an enquiry following the ITF’s defamatory statements. No issue exists.
Further to the above and for the avoidance of any doubt, with regards to the further allegations on ITF’s site about another managed vessel - the M/V Penelope, the position is that no complaints have ever been received by this office from the crew of that vessel either.
As you may be aware, if any crew member has any complaints then there is an applicable procedure under the Maritime Labour Convention in which they can present their complaints. No such complaint has ever been presented either to the Master and/or this office and/or the Vessel’s Flag administration and/or any relevant Port State Control on any of the vessels managed by this office. This alone speaks volumes.
Finally, we wish to make it clear that these defamatory/ libelous statements will not remain unanswered. It is simply not up to the ITF or anyone else for that matter to make such defamatory statements harming this company’s very good name and reputation. Legal action will therefore be taken and in this respect we are already in touch with our lawyers accordingly.
We hope that the above clarifies the position."