Rustem
6 seafarers abandoned on the Rustem (IMO 8519954, flag Saint Kitts and Nevis) in En route to Bartin Port, Türkiye, 10 July 2025. ILO case 1494, status: Unresolved.
- Status
- Unresolved
- Abandonment ID
- 1494
- IMO Number
- 8519954
- Flag
- Saint Kitts and Nevis
- Port of Abandonment
- En route to Bartin Port, Türkiye
- Abandonment Date
- 10 July 2025
- Notification Date
- 18 October 2025
- Seafarers
- 6
- Reporting Org.
- International Transport Workers' Federation
Circumstances
Outstanding wages for 2 and a half months
Seafarers applied to insurer?: No
Insurance certificate dates: 16th September 2025 to 15th October 2025
Updates
16 December 2025: International Transport Workers' Federation
(From the ITF INSPECTOR/TÜRKİYE)
Your prompt response and sensitivity to this case are greatly appreciated. The victimized seafarers are quite pleased with the Flag administration efforts in this matter.
15 December 2025: Saint Kitts and Nevis
(From the St. Kitts and Nevis International Ship Registry)
Indeed, this is our omission, as we had two separate notifications on this vessel from ITF and IMO.
We have requested the Owners to provide additional declarations confirming payments to these two former Masters. We hope we will be able to revert to your with this additional information soon.
15 December 2025: International Transport Workers' Federation
(From the ITF INSPECTOR/TÜRKİYE)
Thank you for your email which is well received. We appreciate that some of the crew members have received their salaries. However, about the 2 former captains we informed flag administration, who applied for ITF assistance and whose salaries were not paid, still haven't received their salaries. We guess the company provided incomplete information.
After your email we have contacted with the former captains. Because their names weren't on the attached list, and we wanted to be sure. They have been informed us that the former captain *** has not yet been paid 2.5 months (12000usd) his salary and the captain *** before the former captain on board still has 6500usd unpaid salary. As we stated in our first report, both were sent back to their home countries without receiving full payment, and they were told their salaries would be deposited into their accounts by company when they was repatriated. In fact no payment has been made.
Your cooperation and support in this case is greatly appreciated.
Please let us know if you require further information.
15 December 2025: Saint Kitts and Nevis
(From the St. Kitts and Nevis International Ship Registry)
We hereby would like to inform you that this Administration received a confirmation from the Owners of mv RUSTEM (IMO 8519954) that the former crew have received their outstanding salary in full.
We attach copies of confirmations signed by the seafarers.
We kindly ask you to consider the provided information towards closure of the crew's abandonment case recordered in relation to this vessel.
4 December 2025: Türkiye
(From the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure)
According to the latest information received from Bartin Port Authority regarding the status of the vessel ‘RUSTEM’; it was reported that;.
• the vessel in subject has called at Bartın Port 6 times between July 17, 2025, and October 18, 2025.
• the Port Authority of Bartın has carried out a PSC inspection on the vessel on July 31, 2025.
• during this period, no complaints were received by the Bartın Port Authority regarding non-payment of wages by the ship's crew.
• the Bartın Port Authority last issued a Port Clearance Certificate to the ship on October 18, 2025, and the ship has not called at the port any more until today.
24 November 2025: Saint Kitts and Nevis
(From the St. Kitts and Nevis International Ship Registry)
We confirm receipt of the below notification.
Please be advised that on 10 November 2025 we have already informed the ITF officer in charge on the status of this case. Please be advised that the Owners of mv RUSTEM (IMO 8519954) experiences some financial difficulties and could not fulfil their obligations and pay the former crew the outstanding contractual wages on time. The Owners submitted a self-explanatory letter, attached, indicating their intention to settle the outstanding payments within the following month (December 2025).
Once again, we are fully aware that it is very concerning that the seafarers haven't been paid in full following their signed off and repatriation, as this constitutes a violation of the MLC provisions, however we hope that the Owners will fulfil their obligations within the indicated timeline.
We will update all parties involved on this issue as soon as new information is received.
18 October 2025: International Transport Workers' Federation
Apart from the abandoned captain, the previous captain has US$6500 unpaid salary for 45 days.