North-Western Shipping Company will seek recovery of losses from Finnish dockers’ rejection to unload M/V Malachite
On December 10, 2015, representatives of the Finnish Seamen's Union rejected to unload M/V Malachite (North-Western Shipping Company) at the port of Uusikaupunki, says NWSC.
On the pretext of absence of ‘proper’ labor contract with ITF onboard the ship, Finnish Seamen's Union (FSU), which is affiliated to the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF), threatened with a dockers’ strike.
On December 11, 2015, NWSC received an official note from FSU on the boycott and the dockers’ rejection to unload the ship.
NWSC went to the Court of Finland for protection of its interests and received the court’s ruling prohibiting the strike.
“The Company is going to protect its rights in compliance with the legislation and seek the recovery of losses,” NWSC says.
Similar incident happened in 2014. The local court of Finland acknowledged FSU actions as illegal and ordered to resume the loading operations.
M/V Malachite operated by North-Western Shipping Company OJSC is registered with the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping and has all the necessary documents complying with MLC 2006. The crew has a collective agreement with Water Transport Trade Union of the Russian Federation (WTTU) complying with the international standards. Meanwhile, ITF inspectors consider Russian agreement as worsening the rights of seafarers.
North-Western Shipping Company is the largest carrier in Russia’s water transport system, specializing in shipping import / export general cargo, bulk and loose dry cargo, tugging of oversized cargo and vessels. The company operates 46 sea-and-river-going cargo ships, 10 sea-going vessels and 3 ro-ro barges with total deadweight of 277,000 tonnes. Some 70% of the Company’s fleet is comprised by new ships built in 2002-2014. Average age of its vessels is 16 years. The NWS Company transports 6 million tonnes of different cargo a year. All the vessels are registered with Russian Maritime Register of Shipping and fly the flag of the Russian Federation.
The Company is a member of VBTH, a shipping division of UCL Holding (majority owner of VBTH), consolidating also a number of Russian rail, stevedoring and logistics assets. The division also includes Volga Shipping Company, V.F.Tanker, several cruise and shipbuilding companies.
