The Maritime Authorities have given permission for the skeleton crew of the freighter Zapolyarye to be reduced from 15 to eight. Nearly half the crew can go home at last, therefore.

The ship’s captain had made a request before the Maritime Authority on the 29th July, which recognised the ships condition of being inactive, thus not requiring a skeleton crew of 15.

The six members of the crew will be able to catch a flight to Moscow thanks to the solidarity of a Motril-Port-Based shipping agency, Motril Shipping S.L., which is handling all the paperwork free of charge after a shipping union said it would pay for the flights, etc.

Motril Shipping S.L. is not the shipping agent for the Zapolyarye, yet it agreed to give the Russian crew a helping hand. This decision was made after other shipping agents refused to collaborate with the management of visas etc.

But as mentioned above the shipping agency is not the only entity lending a helping hand because the Federación Internacional de los Trabajadores del Transporte  (international works union) stepped in, despite the ship owners insurance having expired, to pay to have the ship’s electricity supply etc reestablished.

The ITF then approached the Motril shipping agency, offering to pay for the air tickets and visa renewal, etc, asking the shipping agency to help out managing the bureaucracy. Consequently, Motril Shipping S.L. agreed and approached the Maritime Authorities, the Policía Nacional and the airline. They’re even organising a taxi to get the crew members to the airport.

In the meantime the Russia Embassy states that it knew nothing of the plight of the sailors but the Spanish Ministry of Interior said that this was not true as they regularly keep the embassy updated on the situation.

However, the is not the only Russian ship that has been held in a Spanish ports: the Severnaya Zemlya was detained held in the Valliniello Docks (Puerto de Áviles) since May 2018 after it was impounded for having failed to pay for fuel taken on board in Gibraltar. The freighter had arrived with 15,760 tonnes of coal, which it unloaded but was then prevented from leaving.

(News: Motril, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)