Kenyan seafarers are set to enjoy better salaries and working conditions following the establishment of the planned Seafarers Sectoral Wage Council in the coming months.
This will be a huge boost for a sector that has suffered decades of bondage with the stage having already been set to harness seafarers training to bridge the existing gaps with the transformation of Bandari College into a National Centre of Maritime Excellence, under the new Bandari Maritime Academy.
Although the players in the maritime industry were upbeat 10 years ago about the authorization that was received from the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to train seafarers in Kenya, famously known as White Listing, the country has lacked sufficient training capabilities to develop highly qualified, and competent seafarers that can competitively work in foreign going vessels.
Thousands of seafarers, who had earned their pay in dollars, were rendered redundant following the introduction of stringent regulations by IMO. Consequently, the introduction of the Standard of Training, Certification and Watch- keeping 1995 code locked out the Kenyan seafarers.
To get Kenya into IMO good books, the country had to review the Merchant Shipping Act- which ratified a number of international conventions, developed a maritime training curriculum and sought the IMO approval.
Although Kenya was given IMO clean bill of health, shortly after the new law, the previously known Bandari College lacked training vessels to offer the required experiential and exit training to fully equip the seafarers for international seagoing jobs.
This locked Kenya from the international market that had a shortage estimated at 83,900 of the 500,000 officers required by 2012.
With the revival of the Kenya National Shipping Lines (KNSL), which is set to partner with a leading shipping line, Kenyans seafarers will get an opportunity to get the re“The revival of the KNSL will enable Kenya to benefit from the regional and global maritime transport value chain,” President Uhuru Kenyatta said when he commissioned the Bandari Maritime Academy in Mombasa mid this year.
Currently, seafarers work under extreme conditions with poor terms of service and undeserving pay because of a lack of a wage standard for seafarers in the country. Due to lack of sufficient training, they are cut from the main shipping lines calling in world ports only getting confined to small feeder and fishing vessels operating in Indian Ocean waters.
The welfare of the seafarers is set to change after the efforts to establish the wage council took a huge step recently with the first- ever stakeholders meeting having been held in Mombasa to receive views from industry stakeholders Seafarers, shipping lines, training institutions, representative of workers, government agencies and regulatory authorities among others.
Kenya Maritime Authority (KMA) chairman Geoffrey Mwango said that there was no clear regulatory structure for wages and employment for the sector despite Kenya being a member of the International Labour Organization and having ratified the Maritime Labour Convention of 2006.
The convention sets out elaborate seafarers’ rights to decent conditions of work and is referred to as the ‘Seafarers’ Bill of Rights’.
“This has resulted in numerous -complaints raised by seafarers, most of which have not been addressed because without the standards, they are not able to negotiate terms of engagement when they are hired,” said Mwango.
According to Maritime and Shipping Affairs PS Ms Nancy Karigithu, seafarers are the human face of the maritime sector and usually work in high risk environments operating sensitive machineries thus requires application of special skills which according to international standards, are well remunerated.
“We have actually been blind to the issues. We are all guilty that we have not addressed this issue earlier and therefore have given space for others (to exploit Kenyan seafarers),” said Karigithu.
Kenya, she said, has started selling its well established and globally recognized hospitality industry by having Kenyans work in the cruise shipping industry. MSC is the only shipping line that enjoys a fleet of both cargo and cruise liners.
The PS said Kenyan seafarers employed outside government statutory framework receive low wages that do not meet the interna- tionally accepted safety nets, unreliable payment of wages, mental health issues because of working in confined spaces, long absence from home and family and fear of attacks by pirates.
The wage council will ensure standards are set and met so as to protect the seafarers from exploitation. There are over 7,000 Kenyans seafarers subjected to different terms and conditions of service in tankers, cruise ships, fishing vessels and cargo ships.
Federation of Kenya Employers Coast regional manager Salim Mwawaza said many foreign ships have been coming to Mombasa to recruit Kenyan seafarers only to exploit them and even abandon them at sea.
The National Labour Board will be charged with the responsibility of ensuring the Wages Council is in place in due course. After its formation, the wage council will prepare the Wages Order.
This will now set the specific terms and conditions, working hours, quotations of wages, allowances and other items.
Labour CS Ukur Yatani, who was represented by acting Labour Commis- sioner Geoffrey Omondi, during the stakeholder’s forum, said the Labour Institutions Act of 2007 has not adequately addressed remuneration of seafarers and in the determination of minimum wages.
According to Karigithu, the government is making the climate conducive and attractive for even foreigners to bring their ships to be registered in Kenya. This will open job opportunities for Kenya seafarers.
Liberia, which ranks number one on the number of ships on its register and comes second only to Panama on revenues earned from the sector keeps an open register that Kenya can emulate.
“A ship has no home and basically follows cargo. It follows therefore where they are registered need not be where they are owned,” said the PS. Seafarers Union of Kenya (SUK) chairman Daudi Hajj said most seamen are unemployed despite a good number acquiring the required qualifications and documents.
Some of the seafarers who spoke to the Freight Logistics magazine also complained of low pay.
We do the same work as people from China but we end up being paid less than $300 per month whereas our colleagues earn up to $1,000,” said Mohammed Kassim, a seafarer.
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