MSC denies accusations of 'slave-like' staff conditions

MSC Cruises has rejected allegations by Brazilian police that staff were kept in “slave-like” conditions on its ship MSC Magnifica.

Brazilian officials said they “rescued” 11 crew members in the northeastern city of Salvador, where the ship was docked for the day on April 1.

They claimed staff were forced to work for up to 16 hours a day. Some were alleged to have been victims of sexual harassment, reported the BBC.

MSC said in a statement: “After reviewing thousands of pages of documentation and conducting hundreds of interviews with crew members, Labour Ministry inspectors went on board MSC Magnifica on April 1 and alleged irregularities in the working conditions of 13 crew members, and invited them to disembark.

“MSC Crociere is in full compliance with national and international labour regulations and is ready to cooperate with the authorities.”

The company said it had not received “any evidence or legal notification” from the Brazilian Labour Ministry.

The operation came at the end of a month-long investigation, following a tip-off from crew members on Magnifica.

The labour ministry identified 13 staff who had allegedly been submitted to slave-like conditions.

Two of them refused to leave the vessel and decided to carry on working, while the other 11 were taken to a hotel in Salvador.

MSC Cruises ships operating in Brazilian waters employ a total of 4,181 crew members, of whom 1,243 are Brazilians.

The line said its four ships operating in Brazil during the 2013-14 season had passed “intensive and repeated” inspections by the Brazilian Labour Ministry.

By Michelle Baran

Hotel room availability an issue? Try a river cruise! That’s the marketing approach some river cruise companies are taking in places like Brazil and Myanmar where demand is outpacing hotel capacity.

For the upcoming World Cup soccer tournament in Brazil this summer, Amazon River cruise specialist Rainforest Cruises has introduced five-day Manaus World Cup Amazon cruises to correspond with the World Cup matches taking place in the Amazonian city of Manaus. For $1,999 per person, based on double occupancy, passengers will cruise onboard the 24-passenger Iracema, which launched in March 2011, or the 24-passenger Victoria Amazonica, which launched in 2000.

There will be four World Cup soccer matches played in Manaus — including USA vs. Portugal on June 22 — which has a new, 42,618-seat stadium to accommodate the fans. MichelleBaran

“With that in mind and with excitement building, hotels in Manaus are likely to book up far in advance,” Rainforest Cruises told travelers in a recent release promoting its World Cup cruises.

The Rainforest Cruises World Cup itineraries are designed so that the vessels will be docked in town during the matches and sailing through the Brazilian Amazon the remaining days.

It’s not the first time a river cruise line has offered up its available capacity, however big or small, to alleviate a capacity crunch on land. There’s a similar situation taking place in Myanmar (formerly known as Burma), where river cruise companies are racing to build overnight passenger vessels that can serve as an alternative to a hotel infrastructure that isn’t ready for the country’s massive increase in tourists.

Consequently, Haimark Ltd. is introducing a 56-passenger river cruise vessel in Myanmar this September; Pandaw River Expeditions will launch two additional 40-passenger river cruise vessels in Myanmar this July; Sanctuary Retreats will launch the 48-passenger Sanctuary Ananda in Myanmar later this year; and AmaWaterways is launching the 56-passenger AmaPura there this year, as well.

And thus, a hotel capacity challenge becomes a river cruise opportunity.