Sea

While visiting Lithuania, foreign seamen might be asked to write for their unions about the conditions in Lithuania.

Port Authority to take actions

Klaipeda State Sea Port Authority described Mr. Grybas’s headed organization in the following words: “not all is good in Mr. Grybas’s kingdom”. Next step was to refuse allocating money for the Seamen’s Center. The reason for this is the fact that International Seamen Consultancy Mission works together with a company Seamen’s Center. Both are headed by the same person Algirdas Grybas.

“We have appealed to the Ministry of Transport, claiming that we are ready to head the Seamen’s Center. One can interpret this in many ways. Some angry members of Seimas wrote angry letters, but let’s imagine what would happen if I decided to establish a company with some sailors and said to the captain: “move out, I want to do business here”,” – claimed Mr. Gentvilas.

If the Port Authority decided to take on the Seamen’s Center, the organization will probably be headed by Arturas Drungilas, Director of Administration and Marketing. Details about its plans, the Authority will publish later.

“I do not think that it is necessary to have a building, solely dedicated for accepting sailors. Crews consist of 15 people; the times when crews were big have passed. Crews are small, thus, captains let one sailor at the time to visit city. The biggest necessity for them is to visit some shops and buy souvenirs. We will provide the communication services,” – said Mr. Drungilas.

Mr. Gentvilas was not able to answer the question whether a little chapel will be built. He answered that he does not anything about such an option.

“Klaipeda is visited by a number of different sailors and their religion differs. In such a case, we would need to have a Buddhist prayer room and the Orthodox Church,” – commented Mr. Gentvilas.

Likely to set up a maritime board

The news that the Port Authority is going to manage sailors’ social life and services, the head of International Seafarers’ Mission Algirdas Grybas learnt in mid-January. The report states that the reason for this shift is a need to redistribute funds in such a way that the money allocated would be used more transparently.

“I welcome the news that the Port Authority will organize social service activities for sailors. I am pleased to hear that the organization takes seafarers’ services as one of their policies. It is their business how they are going to carry out this task, whether by hiring someone else or doing it by themselves,” – commented Mr. Grybas.

Chairman of Lithuanian Union of Seamen Petras Bekeza explained that sailors’ social services, which are provided in the laws of Klaipeda State Sea Port, should be carried out as thoroughly as other projects developed by the Port Authority. It is strange that the Port Authority does not manage such projects. The Authority calls for proposals and shifts this responsibility to someone else.

“Let the Port Authority call for proposal to organize sailors’ social services. Let someone else to perform that function, as it is required,” – assured Mr. Bekeza.

Although Lithuania has not ratified the conventions of International Work Organization, regulating seafarers’ social services, the country is a member of this organization and, therefore, has to stick to the regulations. Lithuania is preparing to ratify 2006 Bill of Sailors Rights, which foresees the assurance of sailors’ social service.

“It is envisaged to establish National Seamen Board. The Board would include the members of Seamen’s Union, Port Authority and other maritime organizations. They will have to monitor the compliance to this International law,” – claimed Mr. Bekeza.

The Head of Lithuanian Maritime Safety Administration Evaldas Zacharevicius thinks that such a board should be established as soon as possible. Now, there is a situation in which it is unclear who has to foresee the functions of social services. Ironically, some organizations can allocate one or six thousand LTL and claim that everything is done as it should be.