A MERCHANT ship has been seized by the Britain’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) after they discovered that the crew had not been paid for months.

The vessel, owned by Bulgarian company Victoria Maritime Trading, is docked in Cardiff, where it has been placed in “detention” by MCA officials.

As well as its crew going months without pay, the ship was also found to be in breach of a number of maintenance regulations, including some that posed health and safety hazards.

Inspectors referred the case to the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF), so that the Russian, Ukrainian and Bulgarian crew members could receive help.

Seafarers’ union Nautilus condemned the treatment of the ship’s crew but said that such practices were commonplace in today’s maritime industry.

Tommy Molloy of the ITF said: “The state of the vessel is bad enough from a maintenance point of view. It is self-evident that no money is being spent on the basics and, as is usual with such shipowners, the crew are also not being paid.

“One man had not received payment since he was transferred to the ship in June and had not been paid the three months’ wages he was owed from his employment on the ship he was transferred from.

“We have had similar dealings with this operator before. They have been described as being at the very low end of the industry.”

Maritime union RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: “Once again, seafarers bear the brunt of the particularly vile form of capitalism which dominates shipping.

“The cargo sector really is the workhouse of the shipping industry, with seafarers effectively enslaved by wealthy shipowners and managers to service the global economy, including the UK’s imports and exports, 95 per cent of which come by sea every year.”