Argun owners ordered to pay arrear wages

Ray Smuts SEAFARERS TOO have a right to regular wages. This was underscored when a High Court judge recently ordered a ship under arrest in the Port of Cape Town for more than three years, and its owners, to pay substantial arrears before she is free to set sail. Judge John Foxcrofts judgment in favour of three groupings of former crew of the tanker MT Argun, was that the vessel and its owners, the Russian Federation, pay the sum of US$347 736 (R365 470) and the Sheriff of Cape Town R4,892 million for "reasonable and necessary" costs of preserving the vessel. (This excludes legal costs of almost R800 000 for the Sheriff and R300 000 for the three sets of crew). In his 62-page judgment, Foxcroft noted an observation by a jurist in 1815 that a seamans claim for wages is "sacred as long as a single plank of the ship remains." The Argun judgment is the most costly involving a ship under arrest in the Port of Cape Town. The highest individual claims were for more than R3 million lodged by the former Portnet and the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront. An October 4 deadline has been set for leave to appeal but if this does not materialise the crew will be legally entitled to recover their costs by putting the vessel up for auction. Her value is estimated at US$1 million (she could fetch a little more) and buyer interest is keen. Under control of the Russian Auxiliary Pacific Ocean Fleet, the Argun underwent considerable repairs to the tune of an estimated R2 million last year, thought to have been paid for by Russian financiers. It was suspected that should she be allowed sea trials she might try to make a run for it which explains why the request was firmly rejected. She is being constantly monitored in Duncan Dock by port control and by the Sheriff. Cape Town Sheriff Hennie Hurter, who was obliged to raise bonds against certain immovable properties in order to meet the Arguns steadily rising costs of preservation, says the hearing together with another involving the same vessel in the Supreme Court of Appeal, has clarified certain "grey areas with regard to ships arrests in South Africa's maritime law.