Australia has banned the bulk carrier Wooyang Venus from its ports for 90 days. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) announced this on 3 November 2026. AMSA says the ship's records of crew work and rest hours were deliberately falsified. The false records hid that the crew worked too many hours.
The ship is flagged in the Marshall Islands. AMSA inspected it in Newcastle, New South Wales, on 29 October 2026. The inspection followed a complaint under the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC). AMSA found that the records did not show the hours the crew really worked.
Not the first time
AMSA says it has detained Wooyang Venus twice before for problems with work and rest records. In August 2026 the hours were not recorded and checked correctly. In December 2023 AMSA found wrong work and rest records.
AMSA used section 246 of Australia's Navigation Act 2012 for the ban. It gave three reasons. The records were falsified on purpose. Similar problems came back again. AMSA also has concerns about how well the owner and operator manage safety.
Greg Witherall is an executive director at AMSA. He said that faking records that protect seafarers is not acceptable. He said poor fatigue management can lead to errors on watch, collisions, groundings and serious injuries.
What the MLC rest rules say
The MLC sets limits on work and rest at sea in Standard A2.3. Each flag state uses either the work limits or the rest limits.
Work: no more than 14 hours in any 24 hours, and no more than 72 hours in any 7 days.
Rest: at least 10 hours in any 24 hours, and at least 77 hours in any 7 days.
Rest can be split into no more than two periods. One period must be at least 6 hours long.
The time between two rest periods must not be more than 14 hours.
Drills should disturb rest as little as possible. If you are called out while on call, you should get extra rest to make up for it.
The ship must keep a record of each seafarer's daily hours. You must get a copy of your own record, signed by the master (or a person the master names) and by you.
These rules exist because tired crew make mistakes. A record that shows rest you did not get makes the ship look safe on paper only.
What to do now
Write down your real hours of work and rest. Do not sign a record that shows rest you did not have.
Ask for your signed copy of your hours of rest record. The MLC gives you the right to it.
Keep your own notes or photos of your real hours. They help if you need to complain later.
If you are told to change your records, report it. You can complain on board, to the flag state or to the port State control officer in port. In Australia, the complaint that led to this ban was an MLC complaint.
Port inspectors also check that crews get shore leave. Read our post on AMSA's rules on shore leave and port State control.
For union, welfare and flag state contacts, see Crewboard's useful links for seafarers. If you are looking for your next ship, see external vacancies on Crewboard.
Cover photo: A bulk carrier enters Port Hunter, Newcastle, New South Wales, with tugs alongside, in February 2009. The photo is illustrative and does not show Wooyang Venus. Photo: Nick Pitsas, CSIRO, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0 (cropped).
Sources: AMSA: AMSA bans vessel over repeatedly falsifying seafarer hours of work and rest records (3 Nov 2026), ILO: Maritime Labour Convention, 2006, as amended, Standard A2.3 Hours of work and hours of rest (PDF).
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