Bouchard Transportation hasn’t paid its seafarers since the new year, allegedly racking up a tab of more than $3m as some languish on arrested ships and others risk criminal charges by going ashore.

According to a lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court this week, the six seafarers listed as plaintiffs are owed a total of $62,890, but say there are as many as 200 who have spent the first seven weeks of the year without a paycheck.