Stranded sailors homesick in Honolulu (01/14/96)

Stranded sailors homesick in Honolulu

by Roman Woronowycz

JERSEY CITY, N.J. - For 24 sailors stuck in the United States aboard a debilitated merchant vessel from Odessa registered with the Black Sea Shipping Co. (Blasco), home for the holidays was a dream that did not come true.

The ship, the 17,000-ton Grigoriy Kozinstev, has been marooned in port in Honolulu since September 23, 1995, when it was towed to the tropical paradise after its main engine broke down four days earlier, 350 nautical miles northeast of the Hawaiian Islands.

It has not been bliss for the mariners, who ran short of food and money long ago and now survive through the generosity of fellow sailors at the seaport, who have rounded up and delivered truckloads of supplies - clothes, canned food, water, cigarettes and at least 12 turkeys, courtesy of marine-oriented firms such as Hawaii Tug and Barge, Hawaii Pilots, Sealand Enterprise and Jardine Shipping Agencies, reported The Los Angeles Times on December 11.

The Japanese firm, Marubeni Co., which owns the cargo - 13,000 tons of smelly and highly combustible ground anchovy fish meal - also has taken responsibility for feeding the sailors and maintaining basic on-board operations.

The seamen have wandered the streets of the port with no money, reeking of the foul-smelling cargo and unable to get a proper shower or air conditioning on a ship with no power. With no fuel for refrigeration, their on-hoard food supply quickly rotted in the 90-degree tropical heat.

Watching Hawaiians prepare for the holidays only made the Ukrainian sailors' stay all the more unbearable. "I dream of (Christmas) every night, but I do not know when I will be getting home," said 49-year-old seaman Mikhail Yevtushenko.

No one is certain when more help will arrive or when the sailors will be able to return to their families. At issue is who is responsible for the ship and the sailors, and who will cough up the needed finances to get the sailors home and the cargo to its destination.

Insurance companies, business owners, from the Black Sea to the South Seas, as well as Hawaii state harbor officials, U.S. Customs agents and immigration officials have been wrangling with no end in sight.

The ship picked up it $8 million cargo of fish meal in Chile in July and was on its way to Japan when its engine quit. In Panama for refueling, it had to have its already troubled engine repaired. The patch-up job was inadequate, and, according to The Times, marine surveyors in Panama warned that the vessel was unsuitable for voyage. Not able to afford the estimated $1 million for proper repairs, the vessel and its crew sailed on.

By leaving port the Gregoriy Kozinstev may also have voided its insurance policy, an issue that was still not clear when the L.A. Times story appeared.

The Japanese cargo owners, after a month searching for any way to get the shipment of fishmeal of- loaded and to its customers, finally got results the first week of December, when some partial shipments began.

Another issue that cropped up was to determine who actually held responsibility for the ship. The ship was under contractual charter to the Black Sea Shipping Co. USA, an independent firm in which Blasco-Odessa, the owner of the vessel, has some financial interest. However, as Stanislav Michajluk, president of the U.S. firm told The Weekly: "The bare boat charter was taken over by Blasco-Odessa on September 24; all responsibility for the crew members and the ship became theirs because the ship owners did not make proper inspection of the ship."

Mr. Michajluk criticized the general condition of the ship, which the Times described as a ''500-foot-long black and white vessel - with rust frothing out of the peeling paint on its scuffed hull."

"This is not a ship, this is scrap,'' said Mr. Michajluk.

Who will eventually finance moving the ship out of Honolulu Harbor and the return of the sailors to Ukraine remains unresolved. Press Secretary of the Ukrainian Embassy Vasyl Zorya said Ukraine's Ministry of Transportation and the Japanese firm are now negotiating a settlement.

He also said the consular offices have done all they can to assure that the sailors have proper visas and that contact is maintained with U.S. Customs. "Right now we cannot say when the sailors will return or when the ship will be back," explained Mr. Zorya.

Ukraine's first consul in New York, Yevhen Korniychuk, said the Foreign Ministry and Ministry of Transportation have been informed about the plight of the sailors, but have not yet responded to their needs. "Nothing has yet taken place, and I say this with deep regret," said Mr. Korniychuk. "The sailors still have not received financial support." He added that two representatives of Blasco were in Honolulu to help.

Meanwhile, as the Times reported, all the sailors wanted was to get home in time for the holidays. The crewmen are angry that their government has not coughed up the money needed for repairs and could not get them home for Christmas. One sailor, Alexander, said, "It hurts to be helpless. This comes from a feeling that the state is not taking care of us."

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