AGENTS for a Pacific- registered shipping company were last night trying to break the deadlock which has left a 146,000-tonne bulk carrier stranded off Hunterston on the Clyde for two months after its Filipino crew mutinied over unpaid wages, write Ian Bruce and Rosie Davis .
The Silver Constellation, the last vessel owned by Hong Kong playboy John Koo's Orient Steamship line, was originally detained by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency on November 7 when a routine safety inspection revealed so many faults that the ship was declared unsafe to sail.
The coal-carrier was then ordered to anchor in deep water in sight of Largs while essential maintenance and repairs were carried out.
Soon after the work was completed, the mainly Filipino crew discovered that they had not been paid for several months and went on strike, occupying the ship and refusing to leave.
The men have been unable to go ashore because they have no money and are reported by locals to be running short of supplies.
Although the vessel is owned by Orient Steamships, it is registered in the Marshall Islands and administered by agents in Vancouver, Canada.
An agent is now understood to be in Largs to negotiate with representatives of the crew to allow the Silver Constellation to sail.
Steven Ross, 38, a member of the Largs lifeboat crew, said yesterday: "We've seen a few of the Filipino guys when we were sailing past. We were in three powerboats at the time, all with balaclavas on because of the freezing weather.
"They must have been terrified. They looked quite nervous. They said they're really bored and asked if we could get them cigarettes."
Lillian Wood, owner of the Woodhouse Hotel in Largs, added: "I heard that they were going to run out of water in the next five days. I don't know if that's just hearsay, though. It is said that they don't want to get off the ship as they have no money and aren't sure whether they would be able to get back on again because of the dispute."
John Ramage, a spokesman for the London office of International Registries, which administers Marshall Islands-flagged ships, said representatives of the organisation had visited the 23-year-old ship in recent days to ensure the crew had basic necessities.
The Herald has discovered the Silver Constellation has been renamed. It was previously known as the Orient Brilliance, one of five ships acquired by Mr Koo when he parted company with his shipping magnate father's firm, Valles Steamship, in 2002.
The other four carriers in his fleet have all been sold or repossessed by their original owners and his line has been plagued by allegations of unpaid bills and a succession of overdue surveys.
Korean-born Koo is part of a powerful Shanghai- and Ningbo-based shipping dynasty which includes patriarchs Koo Kou-hwa, founder of Tai Chong Cheang Steamship, and Tung Chao-yung, the legendary magnate who founded the Orient Overseas empire. Mr John Koo is a cousin of Mr Tung Chee-hwa and Mr Tung Chee-chen - the two sons who took over Orient Overseas.
Mr Tung Chee-hwa went on to become Hong Kong's first chief executive after the UK handed the colony back to Communist China.
Despite telephone and e-mail inquiries, no-one at Orient Steamship's Canadian office was available for comment last night.
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