So apparently this is a thing... Ships become abandoned by owners who cannot pay for the ships or their crews salary thus creating situations like in the article.
Sailors will remain aboard ships not only so they won't lose out on months or years of lost wages, but also due to vagaries of port laws or not wanting to get blacklisted for future maritime jobs.
Some sailors remain aboard vessels for years until they can get paid, waiting for often long legal battles to play out so the ship can be scrapped for money to settle unpaid salary debts and the like.
In one case a supertanker with over a million barrels of oil is decaying off of the coast if war torn Yemen also abandoned by its owner.
There's an estimated thousand seafarers who are basically homeless living on abandoned ships around the world and supported by passing ships, charities or friends and family as they await rescue from the limbo they find themselves in. The true number of abandoned sailors is likely much higher however.
Sailors will remain aboard ships not only so they won't lose out on months or years of lost wages, but also due to vagaries of port laws or not wanting to get blacklisted for future maritime jobs.
Some sailors remain aboard vessels for years until they can get paid, waiting for often long legal battles to play out so the ship can be scrapped for money to settle unpaid salary debts and the like.
In one case a supertanker with over a million barrels of oil is decaying off of the coast if war torn Yemen also abandoned by its owner.
There's an estimated thousand seafarers who are basically homeless living on abandoned ships around the world and supported by passing ships, charities or friends and family as they await rescue from the limbo they find themselves in. The true number of abandoned sailors is likely much higher however.
Zerohedge
ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero
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