The following letter was sent this morning from Joe Fleetwood, our union brother and National Secretary of the Maritime Union of New Zealand, to Frank Pisano, Executive Vice President of TraPac regarding a fatality on a ship in Los Angeles. Download the original letter by clicking on the graphic, or scroll down to read the text.

RE: Fatality on Cap Pasado, Port of Los Angeles, 19 June 2014

Dear Sir

The Maritime Union of New Zealand is registering a strong complaint about the actions of TraPac stevedoring supervisors at the Port of Los Angeles.

A delegation from the Maritime Union of New Zealand visited the vessel Cap Pasado on 4 July 2014 while it was docked in the Port of Tauranga to carry out an ITF inspection.

Crew members informed our delegation of the events of 19 June 2014 where crew member Edguardo Vila suffered fatal injuries aboard the Cap Pasado while loading at the Port of Los Angeles.

Following this tragic loss of life, supervisors from your company TraPac screamed at crew members to wash blood off the deck and carry on loading, apparently more concerned with the delay to the loading schedule than the death of a seafarer. This account has been corroborated with the ILWU, Maritime Union of Australia, and International Transport Workers’ Federation.

This is a disgraceful situation that has caused great concern internationally and we are interested to hear your response to these concerns.

Yours faithfully

Joe Fleetwood

MUNZ National Secretary