Concerns for crew of former ferry at anchor in Tasman Bay

The Mari­time Uni­on of New Zea­l­and (MUNZ) is voicing its con­cern regard­ing the wel­fare of under­paid sea­farers onboard the ves­sel Vega (formerly the Aratere), which is sit­ting at anchor in Tas­man Bay for over 50 days.

MUNZ Nation­al Sec­ret­ary Carl Find­lay says the Uni­on has received reports regard­ing the well­being of crew mem­bers onboard the ves­sel, which is under­stood to be await­ing trans­it to a ship break­ing yard.

Con­tracts obtained by the Uni­on con­firm the ves­sel is cur­rently registered to Jahaj Solu­tions (F.Z.E), based in U.A.E.

“This ves­sel was once the flag­ship of New Zealand’s ferry fleet. It is now sit­ting off our coast with a for­eign crew who are cut off from shore, and on con­tracts that pay well below Inter­na­tion­al Labour Organ­iz­a­tion (ILO) min­im­um stand­ards,” Mr Find­lay says.

Crew agree­ments viewed by the Uni­on reveal that an Able Sea­man on board is being paid a basic wage of just US$206 per month. This is sig­ni­fic­antly below the ILO min­im­um basic wage for an Able Sea­farer, which rose to US$690 per month on 1 Janu­ary 2026.

Even with over­time and allow­ances included, the total monthly pay for an Able Sea­man is only US$550, still far below accep­ted inter­na­tion­al min­im­ums.

“The crew have now been onboard with the ship at anchor for nearly two months with no sign of pro­gress,” Mr Find­lay says.

While the vessel’s agents and Mas­ter have claimed the crew are in good health and that pro­vi­sions are being sup­plied, Mr Find­lay says there needs to be inde­pend­ent veri­fic­a­tion.

MUNZ is call­ing on reg­u­lat­or Mari­time NZ to con­duct an imme­di­ate, inde­pend­ent wel­fare check on all crew mem­bers onboard the Vega to ensure they are safe, paid cor­rectly, and have the option to be repat­ri­ated if they wish to leave the ves­sel.