The Mongolian-registered ship which was the centre of a security alert in Irish waters over a fortnight ago has been arrested by an Admiralty court order for non-payment of wages to crew. Lorna Siggins reports.
The order was pinned to the foremast of the MV Unique at Alexandra Basin in Dublin Port yesterday, after an application to the Admiralty marshal's court - a division of the High Court - by the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF).
Mr Tony Ayton, Irish representative of the ITF, said that over $20,000 was owed to the seven crew - four Pakistanis and three Russian - who had been working in appalling conditions with very little food. A representative of the Customs service will remain on the vessel to ensure that it complies with the detention order.
The ITF applied for the ship to be allowed to berth last week on humanitarian grounds, and contacted the owners to try and negotiate overdue payments to the crew. When the negotiations failed, the ITF applied for the detention order.