Caledonian Sky accidents and incidents

September 2023Crew / Passenger Crimes

In early September 2023, ITF (International Transport Workers Federation/1896-founded, London UK-headquartered international transport workers' unions organization) reported a wage theft of AUD 2 million (~GBP 1M / ~USD 1,3M) on Caledonian Sky.

An investigation conducted by ITF in Port Broome discovered a pattern of underpayment to the crew. For the embezzlement was blamed the shipowner APT (Australian Pacific Tours) and its associates (including Sea Chefs/1999-founded crewing management company) for underpaying (deliberately not paying fair wages to) the ship's 76 crew members for a period of over 6 months.

Reportedly, while APT is an Australian company (Melbourne-based), the vessel is Bahamas-flagged (registered in Nassau) which allowed APT to circumvent Australian taxes and laws. With flag-state The Bahamas, the ship operated in Australia with a Temporary License, mandating that the crew must be paid award wages/fixed during authorized cruises.

According to ITF, APT terminated the contract with Sea Chefs (which employed Caledonian Sky's crew) in an attempt to distance itself from the issue, saddling the owed wages/debt to a company that now has no employment relationship with the shipowner, thus making it almost impossible for the crew to recover their wages.

To the crew wage theft allegations responded AMSA (Australian Maritime Safety Authority) and Fair Work Ombudsman as well as other relevant Australian authorities.

Note: In August 2023, the vessel was sold by Australian Pacific Holdings (APT's parent company) to Captain Cook Cruises Fiji, commencing revenue operations for Captain Cook on November 11, 2023 (maiden voyage out of homeport Nadi/Viti Levu Island, Fiji).

04 March 2017Ship Grounding

On March 4, 2017, the cruise ship ran aground (made contact with the sea bed) in Raja Ampat, Indonesia. The accident seriously affected a coral reef, causing significant damage. Around 13,270 m2 (143,000 ft2)  of the reef was destroyed.

The vessel required tugboat assistance. The grounding occurred during low tide. The cruise company was fined Rp 6 trillion (Indonesian rupiah), which was around USD 450 million. The payment responsibility was passed to cruise ship's insurer Spica Insurance Inc, which started negotiations with the Indonesian Government.