Stranded ship MV Jag Anand in Chinese waters reaches Japan, 23 crew members to fly back to India

New Delhi, Jan 18: The sufferings of 23 Indian crew members stuck on the Indian ship MV Jag Anand which was stranded at the Chinese port of Jingtang since June last year have finally come to an end. The Indian ship has now reached Japan on Monday for crew change and all of them will fly back to India in the next 36 hours.

 

The owner of the vessel, The Great Eastern Shipping Company Ltd. told that the first batch of roughly a dozen sailors will leave for India tonight. The second batch is expected to leave for India tomorrow.

 

A series of talks were held between India and China after which the MV Jag Anand was allowed to sail to Japan on 10th January. The shipping company said that within a couple of days, MV Jag Anand laden with Australian coal should head back to Jingtang port in China where it will settle at the end of the queue as China has not shown any signs of easing the import ban on Australian coal.

 

Over 50 vessels carrying around 8 million tonnes of Australian coal, have been unable to discharge their cargo in China since October 2020, coinciding with a souring of diplomatic and trade tensions between Canberra and Beijing. This has led to a realignment of trade flows in the international coal trade, with Australian coal producers finding other international markets like India, Turkey, Spain, etc. China has also looked up to alternate producers like Indonesia, Russia and South Africa amid an extremely cold winter.

 

Another ship MV Anastasia with an Indian crew is exploring the possibility of a crew change at its current point of anchorage in Caofeidian. Indian Embassy has written to Chinese authorities for approval of the same.

 

The Indian bulk cargo vessel MV Jag Anand of Great Eastern Shipping company was on anchorage near Jingtang port in Hebei province of China since June 13, 2020, with 23 Indian nationals as crew on board. Another vessel, MV Anastasia, which has 16 Indian nationals as its crew, is on anchorage near Caofeidian port in China since September 20, 2020. Both these vessels have been waiting for the discharge of their cargo. There is a growing stress on the crew members on account of the long delay. Given this and concerns for the increasingly difficult conditions for our crew members, these two cases are being pursued vigorously by the government.