What ails Indian Shipping (Another view . . .)

Here's a link to yet another brilliant article by Manu Mahajan on what really ails Indian seafarers lately, and the role that the employers as well as authorities have to play in this - it is pertinent to point out that one of the DGS babus previously apparently a Master Mariner was kind enough to tell a seafarer wgo had a genuinely serious issue that "did you think you can just pick up the phone and call me?" Said seafarer then told him, fair enough, if I can't call you on phone during office hours, then may be better come with a can of kerosene and do self-immolation outside his office, would that be better.

I have been at the other end when some other people have called the same dude, and he has been like "yes sir no sir 3 bags full sir", because that said person put it on speaker for my benefit.

http://oldsaltshaker.blogspot.com/2011/10/inside-shipping-war-we-do-not-see.html

Manu, as always, gets the point across with his sharp observations.

But more than that, it is the feedback I am getting from younger seafarers, many of whom are moving on to other options, that something is very wrong with the way the marine administration in India is ostensily functioning.

Let us have your views, too, and as always, confidentialities maintained.

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quotes:-

Today, I watch from the sidelines, sometimes anguished and sometimes angry, as this war damages the industry near-irretrievably. Thirty two year old Masters tell me why they are quitting. Young Second Mates talk to me with lesser composure and greater angst, but some of their reasons are similar to those of the seniors'. Young cadets tell me why they will quit 'within five years'. And ratings look shell shocked, convinced that the choice they made- or that was made for them by family, in some cases- was absolutely the wrong one.

The battle is one sided, but it is still being waged all the time, overtly and covertly, by almost every small and large minion at many- even most- shipowning or shipmanagement companies today. (Shabby treatment of seafarers is a given in government setups like the MMD or DGS too, but for reasons more to do with misguided bureaucratic self-importance than commerce).

The battle is waged when second rung clerks of often third-rate calibre are unleashed on crews at every interface with these body-shopping outfits. The overt battle has other weapons in its armoury when it comes to senior officers, who are more subtly made to feel inferior to their counterparts ashore, some of them ex-sailors now often unfit to sail for one reason or another. Officers will be often treated poorly at every stage of their interaction with the office, whether at sea or not. Even entry-level management trainees are treated much better ashore, especially in businesses with high attrition rates, but shipping must serve its hidden agenda; it must cut off its nose to spite its face.

Defaulting RPS agents in India, and some info on Killick and Ind-Aust

As most of my seafaring and shipping friends in India should know, shipping companies and agents are prohibited by law from preventing or detering seafarers from gaining employment, and most certainly entities like FOSMA, MASSA and INSA and agency or ship-owning companies under them cannot use, as per Rule 3(d) ""no means, mechanism or list is used with the intention to prevent or deter seafarers from gaining employment.""

Here is the url:-

http://www.dgshipping.com/dgship/final/rules/ms_recruit_placement_seafarers_2005_Cov.htm

Read the whole thing but also please see 3-d, and in this case, in a similar related case relating to Killick Marine, whose RPS licence was expiring on the 17th of October 2011, and it is likely that the complaint about Killick Marine had been placed before that date.

58 Mumbai M/S. KILLICK MARINE SERVICES LTD., MUMBAI 9, Commercial Union House, 2nd Floor, 9, Wallace Street, Fort, Mumbai - 400001. -- RPSL-MUM-039 18.10.2006 17.10.2011

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In addition, over the last few days, I have received copies of letters written by some companies to other companies "black-listing" seafarers. Along with this, I have received information about non-payment of dues, bad behaviour, demand of bribes by recruiting officers as well as others, and similar.

This blog proposes to start its own "Now Investigating List" of defaulting agencies and owners, and the opening names for "NIL companies" are:-

1) Killick Marine / Mumbai / RPS MUM 039
2) Ind-Aust / Mumbai /

More details will follow, as well as specific complaints.

All seafarers with complaints against agencies and shipowners in India are encouraged to get in touch with the undersigned in confidence.

Jai Hind, for better shipping from India!!

(ps: Just received a phone call from some chump saying that "Farshid Savaksha who is GM of Killick Marine in Mumbai has told me to tell you to remove Killick Marine's name from the list. Or . . .")

Or what else, chump? I actually want Farshid Savaksha's parents, family, friends, children and neighbours, and everybody else who knows him, to read this - Farshid Savaksha was and is responsible for ruining the career of a decent human being, and will now soon pay, in this world and the next, for his sins.

kêm-nâ mazdâ mavaitê pâyûm dadât
hyat mâ dregvå dîdareshatâ aênanghê
anyêm thwahmât âthrascâ mananghascâ
ýayå shyaothanâish ashem thraoshtâ ahurâ
tãm môi dãstvãm daênayâi frâvaocâ.

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To quote:-
The Respondents knew well that the DG Shipping is in very truth the statutory guardian of the Indian Shipping Industry, and guards jealously the standing of Indian seamen. To such an Officer an appeal invoking the larger interests of Indian shipping and Seamen could be nothing short of a provocation, a provocation to intervene and ensure Divekar's blacklisting. . . read on:-

http://matescabin.blogspot.com/2011/10/uasc-of-uae-and-kuwait-and-killick.html

It took Capt. Divekar 10-11 years to get justice, but at the end, despite lack of any support from the Unions or DG Shipping, he did get it. For years, we have been hearing about shipping agencies maintaining "blacklists" of Indian seafarers, especially in cases where seafarers who had not been paid, or had been sent to work on unseaworthy ships, or similar, chose to demand their rights. Now copies of these so-called "blacklists" are out in the open, and in most cases, reflect nothing more than the personal opinions based on petty desperation and revenge that some of these so-called "agencies" put out - in some cases almost like blackmail weapons against Indian seafarers. In this case, Killick Marine, one of the so-called oldest and most reputed agencies, is one of the respondents.

Some of us have made a recomendation to the DG Shipping in Mumbai and the Ministry of Shipping in Delhi, as well as to certain private trusts associated with Killick Marine's personnel in this case, to suspend Killick Marine's RPS licence till this investigation on how they ruined the life of Capt. Deepak Divekar is completed.

We urge you to read this 100 page submission. A copy of the award shall be placed online soon, but interim, the big question here is this:- who is spoiling the name of Indian seafarers, the corrupt amongst the agency companies where the truth on maritime recruitment is well known globally . . . or the poor suffering Indian seafarer who has to face battle at every step from training and recruitment onwards?

YOU be the judge.

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A blacklist of defaulting owners and shipmanagement agencies is the need of the day

Here's a report which should interest most seafarers, who face such issues on a regular basis, I wonder if DG Shipping has done anything about it so far?

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-12-09/pune/28241398_1_ship-owner-sailors-navy-officer

Rs 1.5 cr compensation awarded to ex-merchant navy officer

TNN Dec 9, 2010, 05.04am IST

 

PUNE: Deepak Divekar, a former merchant navy officer, has been awarded compensation of Rs 1.56 crore by the Arbitral Tribunal of Justice S C Pratap, following a judgment in his favour on Oct 30, 2010 vis a vis his former employer, Kuwaiti shipping company United Arab Shipping Company and its shipping agent Killick Marine Services Ltd.

The company had allegedly blacklisted him following allegations of drunken misbehaviour, unprofessionalism and causing communal disquiet while on board. Divekar said he intends using the money to set up a trust fund to provide legal aid for similarly-affected sailors who remain unemployed after a shipping company blacklists them.

Addressing a news conference here on Friday, Divekar, who was subsequently forced' to quit his shipping career for lack of employment, said that the allegations of unprofessionalism came after he opposed the decision of his captain to purchase 100 MT of non-potable water while on board M V IBN Abdoun at Statia terminal in the vicinity of the Caribbean islands in 2000. "The water was unfit for human consumption, as was subsequently proved by the fact that two other officers, apart from myself, as well as crew members like the bosun and fitter suffered from severe stomach problems," he said. Repatriation at the next port (which was in Russia) was not possible.

The vessel arrived in India on Sept 27, 2000, said Divekar. "Though I requested the shipping agent, Killick Marine Services Ltd, for help, I was refused it. I had no option but to seek medical help on my own, despite the terms of the contract that if an officer is signed off on medical grounds, it is the duty of the ship owner - in this case, the United Arab Shipping Company - to reimburse the amount."

Following this episode, Divekar says he could not get a job with any company, as the company charged him with drunken misbehavior, unprofessionalism and causing communal disquiet while on board. "The mental grief this caused my family was immense. I was also at a wit's end with regard to fulfilling my responsibilities towards my ailing parents, sick wife and young son," he said. "To earn a living, I was subsequently forced to cash in on my resemblance to Pakistani general Pervez Musharraf. This bagged me some acting roles, but this is not what I am trained for."

The arbitration between the company and its agent as respondents, and Divekar as claimant lasted eight years. "In a decade, I have aged 25 years. There's no question of a career at sea for me, any more. However, I hope this trust fund will help hapless sailors like myself who face the wrath of a powerful employer without adequate defence for want of funds," he said.