Sea

Spausdinti   Supplement to article

Incomprehensible things are happening in Lithuanian Maritime Safety Administration, related to the selection of marine personnel.

More money out of sailors’ pockets

Preparation and Certification Division which works directly with seafarers is the most important to us. However because of its head, working for almost ten years, the department not always manages to solve important issues. We should not be talking about a lot of nuances regarding the issuing of maritime documents. You would not able to find a seaman content about the present qualification requirement system. This has turned into money making procedure long time ago. New procedures are constantly invented in order to make more money out of seamen. Lithuania having a few hundred seamen constantly abuses them. In reality, they are not valued for working in dangerous conditions, great responsibilities and their way of life, requiring them to leave families for months. The Government decides to implement new ways of making more money out of seamen. Nevertheless, we, sailors, are convinced that a lot of suggestions how to make more money out of us come from Lithuanian Maritime Safety Administration.

Stubborn officials

The biggest problem is that Lithuanian Maritime Safety Administration is not headed by experienced sea captains, which know the problems of sailors. Theorists and retired sea engineers are working in this institution. On the one hand, sailors are not interested in working for Maritime Safety Administration because of low salaries. On the other hand, sailors who start working in the Administration lose their qualification and skills for work in the sea. There is an assumption that every sailor working for the Administration has a right to go on a sea trip once every two year. Practitioners think that this period is too long. Thus, Lithuanian Seimas was submitted with the proposal to shorten this period to one year. Employees of Maritime Administration have all the conditions to improve but they are not using it. We have to admit that the representatives of this important institution have their skills steadily declined. Strange looking is the practice on which new employees are hired for this institution. New information on job vacancies in the Administration is published in Valstybes Zinios, a newspaper largely unread by sailors. The question then is why the recruitment of employees is not announced in journals and magazines accessible for sailors?

Open interests

Since 2002, the Chief position in Maritime Safety Administration’s Preparation and Certification Division is empty. The position was taken temporarily from Evaldas Zacharevicius, who became the director of this organization, by Vytautas Braslauskas. Maybe this place is held for someone from the Administration of Maritime Safety. This question is particularly valid when knowing that all other divisions and subdivisions are fully completed. Klaipeda has a strange way of turning sailors into employees of this organization. It is known that good sailors are missing in the Administration, but their search is imitated. Where in the port of Klaipeda, seafarers, who decided to work on shore, can find a work place? Presently, only Lithuanian Maritime Academy is interested in hiring qualified sea pilots. It values the experience of sea captains. Elsewhere, the doors are closed for returning sailors, probably because of some personal interests.