High court orders sale of stranded HK casino ship to pay off crew’s wages

The casino cruise ship that brought a sea of troubles—pun intended—in Hong Kong will soon be sold in an auction.

On Tuesday, the city state’s High Court ordered the New Imperial Star to be put up for auction and its proceeds will go towards the unpaid wages of the cruise ship’s 46 crew members, the South China Morning Post reported.

The 12,586-tonne casino ship was used to shuttle Chinese clientele from Hong Kong into international waters where gambling was legal, but the cruise business nosedived in 2015 after Beijing announced its crackdown on corruption and the gambling sector. In October, the ship was detained in the harbor near Kai Tak Cruise Terminal for failing inspections, and that’s where it remained anchored until this day.

The ship’s 46 crew workers—20 from Ukraine, 18 from Myanmar, and eight from China—were stranded on board since November because the ship’s owner, Arising International Holdings, failed to pay their wages or airfares.