The Bulgarian owners of the Eleen Sofia have hit back in a spat with the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) in Australia. The 2008-built bulk carrier made headlines a week ago with its owner, Eleen Marine, accused of poor maintenance and unbearable living conditions onboard. Eleen Marine has claimed that the ITF has been used as a “pressure tool” by an international blackmail group. The ship was arrested at the port of Mackay at the end of last month in connection with what the owner said was a commercial dispute. The arrest was lifted on May 4, and the ship has since shuttled between Mackay and Gladstone. The ITF hit out last week at the ship’s lack of provisions onboard and the amount of unpaid wages owed to crews, something refuted by the ship’s owner, who pointed to a successful inspection last week by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority. “Given the above lies, we sincerely hope that an organisation such as ITF will look into the matter at the highest level and apologise to the company in writing and without delay, otherwise we will be left with no alternative but to exercise all our legal rights against all responsible persons to protect our interests and the reputation of our company,” a spokesperson for Eleen Marine wrote in a statement sent to Splash. The ITF has not replied to questions sent by Splash earlier. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1_95_0_1_2'); }); TagsAustralia