Nine crew members who barricaded themselves on board a ship were due to receive €73,000 in arrears last night after settling a long dispute over pay.
Earlier this week crew members on the Merchant Brilliant barricaded themselves into the vessel three miles off the English coast in protest at the non-payment of wages owed to them by the Russian owners of the ship, ADG Shipping.
Ken Fleming, one of two International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) inspectors who have been on board the ship since last Sunday, said the nine crew members were relieved the situation had been resolved.
He said the remainder of the crew had dropped their claims over arrears.
Mr Fleming said the owners of the ship refused to allow the crew to leave until they linked up with a replacement crew that was waiting in Heysham at 10pm last night.
The nine crew members, who are from Russia, Belarus and Latvia, were due to fly home from Manchester airport at 6am today.
Mr Fleming said the fact the ship would be hired out again "speaks volumes" about the incident and that situations like these could not be allowed to go on.
A spokesman for Norfolk Lines, which charters the vessel but says it does not have responsibility for crewing or technical management, said the company was glad a settlement had been reached.
He said Norfolk Lines stipulates in its charter agreements that crew members should be paid in accordance with ITF guidelines. The company had suspended the hire of the vessel pending the outcome of the dispute.
Last December, ADG agreed to pay crew members €153,000 after the High Court had arrested the ship in Dublin.
Last November crew members of the Merchant Brilliant's sister ship Merchant Bravery were awarded arrears of €122,971.