Stowaways hiding away in car ships in the Caribbean and trying to escape in Bermuda are less of a problem than they used to be due to tighter security, according to stevedores unloading the car ship Maersk Taiki.

The stevedores unloading cars from the 540-foot ship told The Royal Gazette last weekthatstowaways from Haiti and the Dominican Republic used to try to escape from the ships when they arrived in Bermuda but tighter security at the docks in those countries had reduced the problem.

They said that while they were unloading the cars, they would see feet dangling from an area in the ship's stern where the rudder is housed. Then the person, who was usually dehydrated and weak, would jump out of the area and swim ashore.

One of the workers said: "Half the time they don't know where they are. They sometimes think they are in the Azores or some other place."

The workers said that they would feed and clothe the stowaways before Police came and sent them back on the ship to go back home.

The Maersk Taiki, which has 11 decks filled with Japanese cars, travels to many islands in the Caribbean and the Atlantic and after it leaves Bermuda, it travels to the Bahamas.

One of the workers on the Maersk Taiki, Oscar Delgado, who lives in the Philippines said: "We stay on the boat for nine months a time, and renew our contract when we go back home."

The father of two said that because of the long times away from his family, he misses them and sometimes gets really lonely.

The huge ship usually calls in Bermuda once a month, arriving in the morning and departing the same day.