China Detains Panamanian Cruise for Defaulted Worker Wages

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, April 10, 2002

China Detains Panamanian Cruise for Defaulted Worker Wages

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A Panamanian deluxe cruise "Orient Princess" was lately detained by the Guangzhou Maritime Court. It can not sail freely on the sea as from April 8 onwards until disputes on defaulted crew wages get solved. The detention order was given after 51 Chinese crewmembers of the boat made an application for security of maritime claim.

Chinese crew say that the owner of the cruise has been in arrears with their wages since 1997, who paid part of wages years ago but not a penny since last year. The total volume of defaulted wages has almost reached 3.2 million HK dollars which has incurred great difficulties for their daily work and life.

The crew of "Orient Princess" is all from a Chinese ocean shipping company, as reported. A manager of the company says they once tried to contact the ship owner after learning the wages dispute which, is most possibly caused by operation problems of the ship owner company. The manager added, as a company on the crew's side they would certainly support Chinese crew's legal action. If the ship owner made payment in time the Chinese company, as a business partner of "Orient Princess", is still willing to continue cooperation with it.

The "Orient Princess", with a displacement of over 10,000 tons, was the most luxurious five-star cruise built at the end of 1960s and once enjoyed very brisk business.

By PD Online Staff Member Li Heng

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