Twenty out of the twenty-four Filipino crew members on board MV Golden Arrow III, a Panamanian flagged-bulk carrier, will be repatriated to the Philippines after a couple of months of being stranded in Aleveri Port in Greece, the Philippine Embassy based in Athens reports.
“They will disembark from Aliaga Port in Turkey, where the crew change is expected to happen in the next few days. Four Filipinos crew members will continue to serve at the same vessel,” the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs said.
The vessel was arrested in Greece due to unpaid wages and other financial obligations to its crew members and creditors, based on the accounts of the crew members. Prior to their arrival in Aleveri Port in Greece last April, the vessel was also stranded in Benghazi, Libya for three months.
According to the Philippine Embassy in Athens, the mentioned seafarers have finally received their unpaid salaries and other benefits from the ship management before the vessel departed from Greece with the help of a lawyer.
The ship is operated by Piraeus-based Sekur Holdings, part of Jordan’s CTI Group, which provides shipping and trading services for clinker and cement.