Talks between a transport union and the owners of a Latvian ship stranded in Irish waters since March have collapsed, the union said today.
The International Transport Federation (ITF) was in talks with the owners of the Fortuna I, which has been anchored in Dundalk Bay with 11 crew on board since the owners Spaider Shipping failed to pay berthing fees at Greenore.
In a statement, the ITF said it estimated the company now owed the crew arrears of $135,000. The ITF had the ship placed under arrest over the arrears.
ITF co-ordinator for Ireland and the UK, Norrie McVicar, said after meeting the owners today that, they had failed to demonstrate they had sufficient funds to meet their obligations to the crew or other creditors.
"The ITF will now assist the crew in the sale of the vessel so that they can be paid," he added.
"Once again we have an unfortunate situation where the owners of a vessel have made statements about paying the crew, month after month, only to let them down. This should be a lesson to all shipping companies operating in Irish and British waters that such behaviour will no longer be tolerated."