Dispute Over Ship Registry Targets Satellite Firm

Since establishing operations in the Port of Long Beach, a multinational venture to launch commercial satellites from the middle of the South Pacific has had a few problems.

First, the State Department found that Sea Launch had repeatedly violated the Arms Export Control Act and fined the program $10 million, the largest civil penalty of its kind.

Then, the U.S. Department of Justice started a criminal investigation into the matter, which included the convening of a federal grand jury in Seattle.

Now, the cutting-edge aerospace venture has become the target of an international campaign against flags of convenience--the foreign ship registries that offer companies generous tax breaks, minimal regulations and little or no oversight of shipboard conditions.

The consortium’s craft, the Sea Launch Commander, and an oceangoing launch pad named the Odyssey, are registered in Liberia, one of 20 countries that allow ships to fly their flags for a fee. Torn by civil war, the African nation has not had a functioning government in a decade.

Earlier this month, Sea Launch came to the attention of the International Transport Workers Federation, a London-based alliance of 500 unions that has fought against flags of convenience since 1948.

Last week, federation officials and Sea Launch finalized a so-called special agreement that allows crew members to use the organization’s inspectors and lawyers to resolve labor disputes.

“This will make sure the owners meet their obligations,” said Rudy Vanderhider, a transport federation inspector based in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. “The agreement will give the crew some recourse and oversight they never had before.”

Federation officials say that working conditions aboard the Sea Launch Commander and Odyssey are good, but they were concerned that rank-and-file crew members, who are largely Filipino, have had little power to enforce their labor contract.

Without special agreements with the federation, transport federation officials say, many contracts are meaningless because the organization has no legal status to investigate seafarers’ complaints about working conditions.

Terrance L. Scott, a spokesman for Sea Launch, said the venture’s labor contracts have always complied with transport federation standards. By signing the agreement, he said, the program wants to cooperate with the federation and make sure the requirements continue to be followed.

Scott said he did not know why the federation targeted Sea Launch, except that the venture is unique and has a high profile in the local harbor.

Program officials say that the command ship and launch pad are new vessels and have excellent quarters, good equipment and well-stocked galleys.

“The accommodations are beautiful. Each cabin has its own bathroom. The food is good,” said Bo Bejmuk, vice president and general manager of Sea Launch. “We want the crews to feel like they are part of the team.”

Sea Launch, a global consortium of Russian, Ukrainian, Norwegian and American interests, has built an oceangoing spaceport to launch satellites into space from open ocean sites along the equator.

The partnership includes the Boeing Co., based in Seattle; Energia, the Russian rocket maker that helped launch Sputnik; and Kvaerner Maritime, Europe’s largest shipbuilder.

At least $500 million has been invested. The venture’s corporate headquarters are in the Cayman Islands, while its base of operations is located at the end of the former Navy breakwater in Long Beach.

Vanderhider said he contacted Sea Launch because its vessels are registered in Liberia and there have been complaints that Filipino crew members were not getting shore leave.

Transport federation officials say that they are particularly concerned about Liberian-flagged ships because the nation rarely, if ever, regulates vessels in its registry.

“There are no real enforceable standards under the Liberian flag, and no ship owner has ever been sanctioned or fined for violations of Liberian law. They just issue certificates,” said David J. Cockroft, general secretary of the transport federation.

The offices of the Liberian registry are not located in the country, but in New York and Reston, Va.

Scott said that Sea Launch did not register its vessels under the Liberian flag in order to skirt labor and safety standards.

“We looked for and chose a neutral locale,” he said. “The registry’s U.S. office was in New York. They have a highly professional staff.”

With the agreement now in place, Vanderhider wants to address the issue of shore leave for more than 50 rank-and-file crew members. There are an additional 25 officers and marine engineers.

Vanderhider said Sea Launch crews work two months on and two months off. When in Long Beach, however, they are confined to the Sea Launch vessels and compound, while the officers can go ashore on business.

Vanderhider has already discussed the matter with the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service and Sea Launch. Scott said the crew should get shore leave once the program has a more concrete launch schedule, but the final decision is up to the INS.