The Government of India has blacklisted two companies from United Arab Emirates (UAE) for seafarer abandonment.
The companies in question are shipping and management firm Shah Al Arab Marine Agency and M/s Alco Shipping Services LLC, the Directorate General of Shipping said in a circular on Monday.
The decision was prompted after Indian seafarers were left stranded in Dubai for 22 months on board eight ships.
These include oil tankers Enjaz 1 and 2, MT Dharma, M.T. Ocean Prestige, Ocean Grace, general cargo vessel Ajwa, production testing vessel Sharjah Moon, and M.V. Azab.
The directorate said that seafarers were unpaid for months and hadn’t been repatriated after their contract completion. However, despite these issues being public, the companies in question continue to recruit Indian seafarers and several recruitment agencies have been found to have deployed seafarers to these vessels
