Milagro

No one wants to unload the rotten rice from the cago hold of the "Marin". The more than 350 tons of rice husk that have been decomposed for more than a year could stay longer iaboard. The Port Authority of Las Palmas has declared void the award procedure that had begun to empty the vessel after finding that no company submitted bids to take over the work of unloading the putrefied merchandise. The president of the Port Authority, Juan José Cardona, on Dec 3 signed the resolution that put an end to the procedure, which began on Oct 8 with the approval of the file and continued with its publication on Nov 8. The deadline for submission of bids ended on Nov 28 without any financial proposals. The Ports of Las Palmas must now start a new procedure to empty the ship, an essential step before proceeding to the ultimate goal of the Port Authority: its public auction to free the docking space at the Reina Sofia Suroeste it occupied at the Port of La Luz since June 2017. The ship had arrived in Gran Canaria in precarious conditions, with hardly any fuel or food for its crew, who had not received any salary for several months. The vessel was inspected a short time later by the regional coordinator of the Animal Health Inspection of the Government of the Canary Islands who found the merchandise had a significant amount of humidity, which was also evidenced by the marked smell of moisture that came out of the cargo hold. The load had been covered with a white layer that was identified as mold as well as plant sprouts. The inspection revealed that the goods could not be used for consumption - the rice husk is mainly used for the production of feed for livestock - due to the absence of specific information on its origin. The "Marin" did not carry any type of documentation that guaranteed the traceability of the raw material that remained stored in its cargo hold beyond the port in which it had been stowed. It was considered as an unsafe merchandise, therefore not meeting the import conditions. Spanish report with photo: https://www.laprovincia.es/las-palmas/2018/12/07/nadie-quiere-descargar-arroz-podrido/1125300.html

The International Transport Worker's Federation (ITF) has begun the process to repatriate the nine crew members of the "Marin" which has been abandoned by its owner after it arrived at the Port of La Luz, Las Palmas, on June 8, 2017. The ship's crew had already contacted the ITF to request assistance and denounce that they had not received their salaries during the last five months. The problems were aggravated on June 8, when the crew was forced to send a distress signal to Salvamento Marítimo as they found themselves with hardly any fuel and no supplies of food or water. The ship was taken to the Port of La Luz, where the nine crew members of Croatian, Ukrainian and Montenegrin nationality were attended. Since that time, and thanks to the coordination of ITF Inspector Gonzalo Galán with the Stella Maris association and the Port Authority of Las Palmas, it has managed to cover the basic needs of the crew. Contacts with the shipowner have proved unsuccessful since he has no consignee and no responsibility to cover the basic needs of his crew. For this reason, on June 12, the vessel was detained by the Maritime Captaincy of Las Palmas because of the non-compliance with the 2006 Maritime Labor Convention of the International Labor Organization as a result of the salary claim presented by the crew and the evident situation of abandonment. The ITF, when considering the ship in a situation of abandonment, has initiated the corresponding procedures to recover the wages owed from the crew and to organize their repatriation. Report with photo: http://www.laprovincia.es/las-palmas/2017/06/19/naviera-abandona-buque-nueve-tripulantes/951228.html