Correspondence
Emails sent to three different contact email addresses for the agency failed to deliver. A hard copy with the same wording as the emails was mailed to the company.
The email and letter said: "My name is Ian Urbina and I’m the founder of The Outlaw Ocean Project, a nonprofit journalism organization based in the United States. We have been looking into a disease outbreak that occurred on board a vessel called the Wei Yu 18 between August 2019 and April 2020. Some of the deckhands who worked on this ship and came down with illness were recruited by PT Multi Maritim. We wanted to share the information we found about this case and ask you a few questions.
In August 2019, two Indonesian deckhands named Sanudin and Ramdhani fell ill and were transported to shore to receive treatment and fly home. In September, a deckhand named Fadhil fell ill. Fadhil was recruited by a different manning agency, PT Shafar Abadi. When Fadhil asked the foreman to take him to shore, the foreman told him he could not. Although Fadhil’s contract had expired already, the foreman said he was required to stay for two years. On September 26, 2019, Fadhil died.
After Fadhil died, three other deckhands on the ship, named Frans William Imbab, Yansel Saputra, and Frengky, also fell ill, experiencing full-body swelling, cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, and vomiting. These three deckhands were recruited by PT Multi Maritim. That six deckhands fell sick over a six-month period seems to indicate some concerns on the vessel. We have spoken to medical experts who say the same.
We also have evidence that these deckhands were victims of trafficking and forced labor. Their contracts with PT Multi Maritim stipulated there would be no overtime, no sick leave, eighteen- to twenty-hour workdays, seven-day workweeks, and a $50 monthly food deduction. If the fishing vessel was not near a convenient port of repatriation, the contracts permitted captains to extend their stay on board indefinitely. Captains were also granted full discretion over reassigning crew members to alternate ships. Wages were to be paid not monthly to families but in full only after completion of the contract, a practice that is illegal in most countries.
Their contracts required that they pay a processing fee for recruitment, which was to be deducted from their salary. Since the men did not have the money to pay the upfront fees for access to the job, they were required to give the agency their diplomas and family cards as a form of collateral, which were to be returned to the men’s families once the fees were deducted from the men's salaries. Having initially been told by recruiters that they would make upwards of $450 per month, the men soon learned that the actual salary would be far less, around $300. The deckhands were also required to sign “promissory notes,” which said that they would pay a “bail” or “desertion penalty” of over $1000 if they left the ship before their contract expired. We’ve spoken with lawyers in Indonesia and the U.S. who say that a desertion penalty is illegal in these countries and is an indicator of trafficking. Some of the contracts signed with PT Multi Maritim also said that to collect their wages, crew members would have to fly back to Indonesia at their own expense. PT Multi Maritim Indonesia fishermen had a total of $1000 USD deducted in the first eight months for guarantee payment, and did not receive their promised monthly payment of $50 USD in cash onboard the vessel.
Under the definition set by the United Nations’ International Labor Organization, forced labor exists when two criteria are met: involuntary work and coercion. Multiple examples of these criteria were found on the Wei Yu 18. The Indonesian fishermen reportedly asked to leave after one year on the vessel, but they were not allowed to leave. The Indonesian fishermen were also subjected to beatings, unsanitary food and living conditions, and debt bondage.
We would like to ask you a few questions:
- What were the conditions on board the ship that contributed to a widespread outbreak of illness over a short period of time?
- Why didn’t the fishermen recruited to work on board the Wei Yu 18 by PT Multi Maritim receive their promised monthly payment of $50 USD in cash onboard the vessel?
- The deckhands we interviewed said that they asked the captain after one year to be let off the ship, and the captain said that PT Multi Maritim said they were not permitted to leave the ship and had to work for another year. Why weren’t these deckhands permitted to leave?"