The authorities were yesterday urged to crack down on rogue ship manning agencies that are thought to be behind a multi-million racket in trafficking seafarers to foreign destinations in return for a sizeable fee, the sector said yesterday.
“At present there are some 31 licensed seafarer manning companies in the country but apart from that there are believed to be hundreds of illegal recruiting agents and roping them could be an uphill struggle.
“A large number of Sri Lankan seafarers are believed to be boarding foreign flagged vessels mostly through these rogue agencies in exchange for huge cash payments and the ongoing practice is ever present, a spokesman for the ship manning agencies told the Sunday Observer.
He said that all stakeholders in the industry should work together in putting an immediate end to this scourge since it damages the reputation of the sector in particular and the country’s image as a seafarer providing nation. “There is interesting information to suggest that a wider syndicate with foreign links are behind the racket and widespread throughout the country”, spokesman said.
At present Sri Lanka has a one percent dissertation from 15,000 active seafarers and falls at the bottom of the list when compared with other countries.
However, the Sri Lankan dissertation figure is relatively high when compared with the number of seafarers in other Asian countries such as The Philippines that has 450,000 and India 280,000 and with a large number of deserters”, Director General Merchant Shipping said Ajith Wijesinghe said.
The licensed manning companies should also maintain a strict monitoring mechanism on whom they recruit for sailing with a regular update with all details provided to the relevant authorities, DG Wijesinghe said.
“For our part seafarers who break their contracts and jump ship are blacklisted and banned from holding a Seaman’s Discharge Certificate thereby preventing them from sailing in the future.
Although it is thought that the freshers or ratings make up the large number of dissertations it is not correct as records indicate that even seasoned seafarers in the officer ranks have also decamped while on board.
“At the end of the day it is a well organised human trafficking syndicate with foreign collaborations and errant maritime local officials on the take. Therefore measures will be implemented at the earliest to bring an end to this scam to protect the image of the country and the seafarer industry that rakes in millions of dollars in foreign exchange annually”, he said.
President of NUSS Palitha Atukorale said that students in the local marine schools should be taught and advised against deserting their employers for the better future of the sector and the country.
An average Sri Lankan seafarers earns something like Rs. 400,000 per month but some of them believe there would be greener pastures in a foreign capital even if it means they have to work as labourers, Atukorale said.
