In January 2021 the International Transport Workers' Federation raised a case of ship abandonment in Kuwait with the Kuwaiti government. Onboard the MV Ula were 19 abandoned crew members, most of whom had been on board for between 14 and 28 months and were owed over $400,000 in wages. By mid-February they had been on hunger strike action for over a month to reclaim their wages, leaving six of the crew hospitalised.

Business & Human Rights Resource Centre contacted the owner, Aswan Trading and Contracting for response; they did not reply.

The ship became flagless after the flag state, Palau, terminated its registration in September 2020. Six crew members left the ship without their wages in September to be repatriated and at the time of writing (February 2021) another crew members is seeking to leave the ship and be repatriated, giving up his wage claim, but it is unclear why this is not being facilitated. The ITF is now calling on the Kuwaiti maritime authorities to resolve the situation.

on June 4, Iswan South Asia said that the crew of ULA is finally returning home after 28 months at the sea. However, the crew fight for their wages continues.