THE FILIPINO crew of a livestock carrier ship abandoned in Singapore have been returned home, after the intervention of the International Transport Workers’ Federation.

Yangtze Harmony (IMO: 9318917) was arrested by Singapore’s sheriff last October on a request by Glander International Bunkering over an unpaid fuel bill.

Hong Kong-based shipowner Soar Harmony Shipping also stopped paying the entire crew, leaving them without wages or a way to get home, the ITF said in a statement. By April, the crew was owed $429,972.

A legal process to sell the ship was started and pay off its debts, including the unpaid wages owed to the crew which were stuck on the vessel, the ITF said. In January, the Singapore authorities announced the auction of the vessel, according to a court notice.

The ITF said Soar Harmony Shipping has a history of abandoning crew, and its vessels have been detained previously for violating safety and crew welfare rules.

The Yangtze Harmony’s sister ship — Yangtze Fortune (IMO 9336282) — was seized last December by the Australian Federal Court in Victoria after the owner’s refusal to make urgent repairs.

The ITF successfully lobbied to have that vessel’s flag state reduce the ship’s minimum manning levels from 30 to 16, allowing some seafarers to be repatriated earlier.

All of the Yangtze Fortune’s crew have since been repatriated.

“Between Yangtze Harmony and Yangtze Fortune, the ITF’s months of advocacy [recovered] $1m in backpay owed to the crew, as well as flights home and the feeling of freedom for every one of the 43 thankful seafarers,” the ITF said.