Great Offshore Limited Explained

Great Offshore Limited (GOL Offshore) is an Indian offshore oilfield services company.[1] It is based in Mumbai. The company's operations date back to 1983, although it has only been trading under its current name since 2006.[2]

The company has come under criticism in 2016 for not paying the crews of two of its platform supply vessel ships: Malaviya Seven[3] [4] and Malaviya Twenty.[5] [6] The ships were detained in Aberdeen and Great Yarmouth respectively.[7] These cases have been highlighted in the UK parliament.[8]

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency has been working with the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) as the non-payment of the crew members contravenes both the Maritime Labour Convention and UK Modern Slavery Act 2015.[9]

In September 2017 a court allowed the sale of the ship Malaviya Seven, and owner GOL Offshore was reported to be in liquidation.[10]

In August 2018 Captain Rastogi and the last four crew of Malaviya Twenty won a high court case, helped by the Nautilus International union and the ITF, with the Admiralty marshal agreeing that the ship could be sold to pay the port and crew.[11] [12]

GOL Offshore Ltd. was a publicly traded company on BSE (Scrip Code: 532786), however from July 19, 2017, it is suspended from trading.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: GOL: About us. Great Offshore Limited. Great Offshore Limited. 22 January 2017.
  2. Web site: GOL: History milestones. Great Offshore Limited. 22 January 2017.
  3. Web site: GOL: Malaviya Seven. Great Offshore Limited. 22 January 2017.
  4. Web site: MALAVIYA SEVEN. Marine Traffic. 22 January 2017.
  5. Web site: GOL: Malaviya Twenty. Great Offshore Limited. 22 January 2017.
  6. News: ‘Malaviya Seven’ case outrageous, RMT rep. says. 22 January 2017. Offshore Energy Today. 7 October 2016.
  7. Web site: Polly. Toynbee. Polly Toynbee. 2018-09-04. How Britain sank its shipping industry by waiving the rules. 30 August 2016. The Guardian.
  8. Web site: Early day motion 489: CREW OF THE MALAVIYA SEVEN AND GOL OFFSHORE. UK Parliament. 22 January 2017.
  9. News: ITF: Malaviya Seven Detained Again in UK. 22 January 2017. World Maritime News. 6 October 2016.
  10. Web site: Malaviya Seven: Court allows sale of boat detained over unpaid wages. BBC News. 14 September 2017.
  11. Web site: Polly. Toynbee. Polly Toynbee. 2018-09-04. One marooned ship exposes the Brexiteers’ phoney claims. 4 September 2018. the Guardian.
  12. News: 2018-09-04. Stranded sailor can finally return home. BBC News. 8 August 2018. www.bbc.co.uk.