The financial crisisat NewLead Holdings has again turned the spotlight on the problem of abandoned seafarers.

New provisions of the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC), which came into force this week, will result in the protection-and-indemnity (P&I) clubs taking responsibility for paying up to four months of unpaid crew wages and their repatriation.

The MLC convention was drafted more than a decade ago and although the clubs are rather uncomfortable about becoming guarantors of their members’ finances they have been working on how best to respond.

But