For the Captain and crew of the "B Ladybug" every day is the same.
They are "abandoned seafarers",
and they have been stranded on their vessel for almost a year.
There is little to do, no money to get home.
They haven't been paid for the past six months.
All this uncertainty is taking a heavy toll.
"Usually I am so worried because...
we cannot get our money,
because our company is bankrupt,
and I am also worried about my family...
for their daily needs,
and my son (who) was born in March the 25th.
Now it's his first birthday and I have never seen him."
Since the bankruptcy, there's been no one to pay for fuel and wages
and the ship was effectively set adrift.
She is now anchored off the island of Malta in the Mediterranean Sea.
Paul Falzon of the International Transport Workers Federation
has been making the 11-mile journey out to the ship
and its abandoned crew for several months.
He knows what to expect.
"They are very tired, they are devastated,
they have news from their families,
they are broke, without money, mortgages with banks,
education for their children...
The morale is very low, I can tell you."
Captain Fabien Miranda has been a ship's master for 20 years.
He never thought the shipowners would put him in a situation like this.
"They never said you're left to your own destiny.
They said: as soon as we get the funds
we will send it to you.
But that's now 11 months ago."
In April of 2013,
the ship left Singapore with cargo bound for Ghana,
then sailed to Algeria.
After the owners declared bankruptcy,
the Captain had no further orders or destination and fuel was running low.
The B Ladybug drifted for months off the Algerian coast.
"We had to save as much fuel as we could
because if we get stranded without fuel we are in deep trouble.
So we just stopped the engines and kept drifting around."
But they have run out of everything else, from spare parts to stores.
The stress is becoming unbearable...
"...and this is not even normal running, it is full of tension!
Everyday I don't even know if my fresh water is going to come or not!
but I cannot do without food and water.
This is what I desperately need. "
"You're not... there is no peace of mind,
sometimes no joking with your companions,
because sometimes, you know, it's crazy.
It has been very bad, not good conditions."
Several seafarers have been evacuated because of mental distress.
One suffered a stroke.
Their financial situation is desperate.
Most have been forced to take out loans to support their families back home.
"16 months waiting
and my family also waits for me...
to come back,
but instead of coming back I am still here, I am stuck!"
The government of Malta, with the support of the ITF, is doing what it can,
providing fuel, food and fresh water to the B Ladybug on a regular basis.
"This is a humanitarian issue.
You have people stranded, abandoned by their owners,
abandoned because they didn't give them food, they didn't give them salaries,
and for me, I consider them as imprisoned on the ship.
This is imprisonment."
"There are thousands of ships every day and the shipping industry in general
has a very good record I would say both in terms of safety and in terms of generally...
good shipowners meet their employment arrangements, and the employment obligations.
The issue of abandonment is not in a sense an everyday occurrence.
But when it does happen,
it has such huge and far-reaching consequences for seafarers and their families.
For the ILO this is unacceptable.
It becomes an unacceptable form of work.
That's what we are trying to address...
that that situation can have a solution
and a legal solution is one in which a financial security regime will kick in
and will be a requirement under the MLC to cover the issue of abandonment,
to cover the issue of claims of death and injury
-- so that we have a long lasting solution to those circumstances
in which a shipowner, for whatever the reason may exist
decide to abandon that vessel".
"We do believe obviously shipowners
have responsibilities to seafarers under their contracts of employment
but so do the flag states and also we believe the states of residence.
But we think it's actually very important
that the mechanisms to resolve such situations are actually codified."
For now, the abandoned seafarers on board the B Ladybug
are pinning their hopes on a court decision in Malta,
which could determine if they will be paid and repatriated.
But since there is no guarantee when the ruling will come,
or if it will be in their favor,
many are considering giving up altogether, and going home without their salaries.
"Let's put it this way: I sleep very little now because it's every day,
the thought is always there,
what's going to happen next?
What, when are we going to go home?
When are we going to get our wages finally? And go get off this ship?"
"I feel we are abandoned,
because no one cares for us.
Except for ITF that is helping us"
For now, there is nothing more the seafarers on the B Ladybug can do.
They are still waiting, and worrying,
about when they will finally be able to go home...