It has been contacted by the crew of an oil tanker ship MT Tumini which is currently stranded in the Republic of Trinidad And Tobago. The operation of the ship is a responsibility of Nigeria’s EcoBank. According to Mr. Neil Anderson, who narrated the crew’s ordeal to us, EcoBank owes them their wages, refusing to provide food, water or fuel.

Oil tanker ship MT Tumini stranded in Trinidad and Tobago while EcoBank refuses to pay wages

The vessel in question, MT Tumini, previously named Tradewind Sunrise, was purchased by the Petroleum Brokers Ltd, Nigeria, in December 2008 from V. Ships USA, Florida. The crew members are Guyanese nationals.

After the ship’s owner, Mr. Tonye Claude Wilcox’s, death in 2011, the crew was visited by the representatives of EcoBank Nigeria. Since the purchase of the vessel was made through EcoBank, it kept the crew and continued to finance the vessel’s operations fuel, crew wages, dry docking, technical shore services, agency fees, repairs, etc. In summer 2012, the vessel went on anchorage at Claxton Bay, Trinidad, for some wet dock repairs.

Since April 2013, the bank has apparently stopped financing MT Tumini’s operations. Despite constant promises to resolve the matter shortly, there has been no progress. Some of the explanations by the bank representatives were, according to Mr. Anderson, as follows:

• there is a new anti-money laundering law that came out and is causing some issues for EcoBank to wire transfer the finances;
• the finance was sent but was turned back because a junior person within EcoBank did the transaction and made an error;
• the person in charge of heading the vessel affairs for EcoBank is not in Nigeria presently.

The MT Tumini crew have found out that EcoBank had sold the mortgage on vessel to a loan recovery company Amcon in Nigeria. Then, EcoBank has asked a representative of Tricontinental Group to intervene and continue to finance the vessel’s expenses, get the vessel into operation and be part of management. However, this initiative fell through.

No payments have been made since April 2014 to date.

The MT Tumini crew suspects EcoBank of financial misconduct and wrongdoing in running the ship operations. Various authorities have also offered no help, making the crew suspect corrupted practices. They are now in the process of having this matter publish locally in Trinidad and seeking other legal services.