It is seven months since Vinay Kumar and his crew left the UAE after washing ashore in Umm Al Quwain on board a shipping tanker abandoned at sea for almost three years.
When the Merchant Tanker Iba split from its anchorage in rough seas and drifted on to a public beach in January, it gave the world a rare insight into the challenges of a life at sea.
The five men spent 43 months at sea — and 32 months without pay — after the tanker's owner, Alco Shipping Services, fell into a financial crisis. Maritime law states no vessel can be left unattended at sea and so the men stayed aboard, knowing that if they left they would probably not see the $170,000 collectively owed to them.
The tanker broke from its anchor and became grounded after strong winds pushed it to the shallow waters of Umm Al Quwain’s public beach early one morning in January, 2021.
Mr Kumar, 31, and his four colleagues, two from India and two others from Pakistan and Myanmar, remained on the ship in limbo for months while their plea for unpaid wages was resolved in a Dubai Court.
Now back home, Mr Kumar, said it has been difficult readjusting to family life.
He was reunited with his wife Pushpa and two children, Mukund, 3, and Navya, 7, in the small village of Ghnehra in Himachal Pradesh, a northern Indian state in the Himalayas.
“It was very strange coming home,” said Mr Kumar, who spoke to The National from India.
“I had to quarantine for 15 days and eventually got to see my family.
“Life was very different, there were a lot of changes.
“After we came home, the struggle was with no work because of the pandemic.”
“I live in a beautiful mountain area, but I found it very difficult to climb or walk anywhere as I had lost so much fitness by being on the ship for so long.
“It took at least three months to regain my fitness, and I have lost some weight — almost 10kg.
“Now I play cricket again every day keeping wicket and feel fit. Before I could do nothing, not even run.”
Abandoned at sea
The crew had been abandoned since 2017 by their employer, Alco Shipping, after the company hit financial difficulties.
Life on board the giant rusting tanker with limited rations, clean water and electricity was only matched in suffering by the families left behind with minimal contact with their loved ones.
The wife of second engineer, Riasect Ali, 52, struggled to pay for her cancer care without her husband’s salary.
And the ship’s cook Monchand Sheikh, 26, was forced to call off his wedding and abandon plans to build his parents a house.
Meanwhile, chief engineer Nay Win, 53, has since returned to Myanmar in the grip of a military coup.
Ironically, after more than three years at sea he was forced to quarantine in an old cruise ship transformed into a floating hotel in Yangon before being allowed home.
A long term health condition partly caused by his poor diet on board the Iba resulted in a lengthy hospital stay and an operation to remove 30 gall stones fro his abdomen.
The procedure cost around $10,000, a large chunk of the outstanding salary he was finally repaid by the ship's owners once the Iba was sold.
Now in India with his young family, Mr Kumar has not ruled out a return to sea.
“I am waiting for confirmation for a cruise ship job, so until then I am working on my home and the fields,” he said.
“My children have already joined school and I have paid for one stage of their education.
“I will be more wary of the company I join after what happened.
“I don’t want to take one per cent risk with a new job. I can’t put my family through this all again.”
In 2021, the shipping industry hit the headlines like never before.
From the giant Ever Given container ship stuck in the Suez Canal, disrupting global trade, to the abandoned Mt Iba and soaring shipping costs, the industry has been in the spotlight.
Those inside the industry hope 2022 will be the year the world takes note of those at the centre of shipping and their safety.
“If 2021 was the year we all noticed shipping, hopefully 2022 will be the year we notice the seafarers,” said Andrew Bowerman, regional director for the Mission to Seafarers charity — a welfare organisation that supports crew in the UAE.
“Only a small minority of crew are badly treated, but we will continue to work on improving the welfare side.
“The big shift is the ability for authorities to now arrest and auction a ship without the need to go through a lengthy court process.
“It should speed up the process of ensuring crew are paid when there is a case of abandonment.
“Things could be resolved in months, rather than years.”
Disrupting the industry
Covid-19 caused huge disruption to shipping in 2021, with tankers delayed from docking causing global logistics to grind to a halt.
Grounded flights delayed crew changes, causing problems for those stuck on ships, and landlocked sailors who needed work to support their families.
“It is an area that needs to be addressed,” said Chris Peters, chief executive of Maritime Logistics at Tristar.
“For every crew stuck at sea for too long, there are more crew not working.
“This year has seen improvements, but there is still a lot more to be done, particularly in the Far East.”
Crew changeovers were worst hit in China. Ships permanently trading in the Far East were often forced to sail into India and the Middle East just to change their onboard staff.
“There was a recognition of issues in the UAE and that was welcome,” said Mr Peters.
“It has been one of the first nations to recognise seafarers properly.”
A new international welfare charter, the Neptune Declaration on Seafarer Wellbeing and Crew Change, established to resolve maritime issues, has been signed by more than 850 organisations and companies.
It points to a brighter future for vulnerable crew, by recognising them as key workers, industry standard health and safety protocols and greater collaboration between shipping firms and authorities. It also aims to improve air connections between key maritime hubs for seafarers.
David Hammond, chief executive of the Human Rights at Sea organisation, said legislative and policy changes will need to be enforced.
“Without the threat of public exposure surrounding those entities and persons responsible for human, labour, and social rights abuses, the system remains weak, insular, and open to criticism,” he said.
“The main failing of any new regulatory initiative is not doing justice, and not being seen to do justice.
“The greatest challenge to new regulatory regimes is the first-hand exposure of failings by victims of egregious abuse.
“They are increasingly finding their voice through media and social media platforms as powerful levellers to weak enforcement systems.”
The UAE is a founding member of the Riyadh Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to achieve safe, secure and efficient shipping in the maritime jurisdictions in the Arabian Gulf.
Being a flag state, the UAE ranks 21st worldwide in terms of fleet size, with more than 20 major ports spread across from Fujairah to Abu Dhabi.
“As a signatory of the MLC convention, the UAE takes proactive measures to safeguard the interests of seafarers, aiming to improve the quality of life for seafarers,” said Hessa Al Malek, adviser to the Minister for Maritime Transport Affairs, Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure.
“We were one of the first International Maritime Organisation Member States to designate seafarers as key workers during the Covid-19 pandemic, and supported seafarers by facilitating safe ship crew change, administering vaccinations, and providing them access to medical care.”
About Tenderd
Started: May 2018
Founder: Arjun Mohan
Based: Dubai
Size: 23 employees
Funding: Raised $5.8m in a seed fund round in December 2018. Backers include Y Combinator, Beco Capital, Venturesouq, Paul Graham, Peter Thiel, Paul Buchheit, Justin Mateen, Matt Mickiewicz, SOMA, Dynamo and Global Founders Capital
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
The biog
Fast facts on Neil Armstrong’s personal life:
- Armstrong was born on August 5, 1930, in Wapakoneta, Ohio
- He earned his private pilot’s license when he was 16 – he could fly before he could drive
- There was tragedy in his married life: Neil and Janet Armstrong’s daughter Karen died at the age of two in 1962 after suffering a brain tumour. She was the couple’s only daughter. Their two sons, Rick and Mark, consulted on the film
- After Armstrong departed Nasa, he bought a farm in the town of Lebanon, Ohio, in 1971 – its airstrip allowed him to tap back into his love of flying
- In 1994, Janet divorced Neil after 38 years of marriage. Two years earlier, Neil met Carol Knight, who became his second wife in 1994
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
Stats at a glance:
Cost: 1.05 billion pounds (Dh 4.8 billion)
Number in service: 6
Complement 191 (space for up to 285)
Top speed: over 32 knots
Range: Over 7,000 nautical miles
Length 152.4 m
Displacement: 8,700 tonnes
Beam: 21.2 m
Draught: 7.4 m
TO A LAND UNKNOWN
Director: Mahdi Fleifel
Starring: Mahmoud Bakri, Aram Sabbah, Mohammad Alsurafa
Rating: 4.5/5
Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre 6-cyl turbo
Power: 435hp at 5,900rpm
Torque: 520Nm at 1,800-5,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Price: from Dh498,542
On sale: now
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The Birkin bag is made by Hermès.
It is named after actress and singer Jane Birkin
Noone from Hermès will go on record to say how much a new Birkin costs, how long one would have to wait to get one, and how many bags are actually made each year.
SUZUME
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UAE SQUAD
Ahmed Raza (Captain), Rohan Mustafa, Jonathan Figy, CP Rizwan, Junaid Siddique, Mohammad Usman, Basil Hameed, Zawar Farid, Vriitya Aravind (WK), Waheed Ahmed, Karthik Meiyappan, Zahoor Khan, Darius D'Silva, Chirag Suri
'Gold'
Director:Anthony Hayes
Stars:Zaf Efron, Anthony Hayes
Rating:3/5
Brief scores:
Toss: Nepal, chose to field
UAE 153-6: Shaiman (59), Usman (30); Regmi 2-23
Nepal 132-7: Jora 53 not out; Zahoor 2-17
Result: UAE won by 21 runs
Series: UAE lead 1-0
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%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2-litre%204-cylinder%20mild%20hybrid%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E7-speed%20S%20tronic%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E265hp%20%2F%20195kW%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20370Nm%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Efrom%20Dh260%2C000%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20now%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
FIXTURES
Monday, January 28
Iran v Japan, Hazza bin Zayed Stadium (6pm)
Tuesday, January 29
UAEv Qatar, Mohamed Bin Zayed Stadium (6pm)
Friday, February 1
Final, Zayed Sports City Stadium (6pm)
Jigra
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
T20 SQUADS
Australia: Aaron Finch (c), Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey, Ashton Agar, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Chris Lynn, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Ben McDermott, D’Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Mitchell Starc, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa.
Pakistan: Sarfraz Ahmed (c), Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez, Sahibzada Farhan, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Hussain Talat, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Khan Shinwari, Hassan Ali, Imad Wasim, Waqas Maqsood, Faheem Ashraf.
Herc's Adventures
Developer: Big Ape Productions
Publisher: LucasArts
Console: PlayStation 1 & 5, Sega Saturn
Rating: 4/5
McLaren GT specs
Engine: 4-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: seven-speed
Power: 620bhp
Torque: 630Nm
Price: Dh875,000
On sale: now
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbo
Power: 258hp from 5,000-6,500rpm
Torque: 400Nm from 1,550-4,000rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.1L/100km
Price: from Dh362,500
On sale: now
