Fujairah anchorage abandonment cluster 2019-2023 (aggregate)
2019-2023 · Fujairah roads + Ajman + Umm al Quwain, UAE · status: regime summary
- Opened
- 2019-01-01
- Closed
- 2023-12-31
- Port
- Fujairah roads + Ajman + Umm al Quwain, UAE
- Shipowner
- multiple
- Insurer named on DMLC
- multiple
- Seafarers affected
- aggregate
- Nationalities
- IN, MM, SD, SY, EG
Summary
The Fujairah + Ajman + Umm al Quwain anchorages in the UAE became the world's most concentrated abandonment cluster during 2019-2023, with ~15-25 tonnage under abandonment at any given time. Contributing factors: proximity to the Persian Gulf trade routes, weak local enforcement of MLC financial-security requirements on smaller open-registry tonnage, and the pattern of shipowners abandoning tonnage rather than paying scrap-value costs. ITF Dubai + Mission to Seafarers Fujairah coordinated dozens of individual cases (MT Iba, MV Palawan, MV Al Ansari 2, MV Rhoswen, and many others). The cluster peaked in 2020-2021 with the COVID crew-change crisis + subsided by 2023 as UAE FTA enhanced enforcement.
Outcome for crew
aggregate case; typical resolution 6-24 months; wage recovery highly variable.
Source
Resolution / documentation via: ITF Dubai + Mission to Seafarers Fujairah + UAE Federal Transport Authority
Related rights + resources
- · Abandonment rights (MLC A2.5.2) — the regulatory framework this case is governed by
- · Unpaid wages
- · MLC 2006 financial-security providers directory
- · International Group P&I Clubs