The Union and the Prosecutor's office plan to resume inspections of crewing agencies

The Far Eastern transport Prosecutor's office and the Far Eastern regional organization of the Seafarers Union of Russia have decided to conclude a cooperation agreement, the press service of the Department reports. This was agreed by Prosecutor Vitaly Kaplunov and the Chairman of the DVRO SUR Nikolay Sukhanov during a working meeting in the video link mode, where they discussed the matter of supervision and control over the performance of crewing companies in the Far Eastern region.

Currently not only in Nakhodka, but also in other ports of the country, there are a lot of crewing agencies which do not have licence for the right to work.

– Previously, control over the performance of crewing companies was assigned to the Federal migration service of Russia, - said Nikolay Sukhanov. – Then these functions were transferred to the Ministry of internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, but in fact, the Ministry of internal Affairs is not engaged in this work. In our opinion, the issue of manning of seafarers should be within the competence of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation, represented by the marine administrations.

Thus, the Chairman of the DVRO SUR believes that before the seafarer joins the vessel, the harbour master's office  should receive information about who sends him to work, and whether the agency has the right to to provide such kind of service.

– Earlier, the SUR addressed such a proposal to all government agencies, but the problem is still not solved. Seafarers continue to be deceived by fake agencies which earn a lot of money on thisbusiness.In addition, Nikolay Sukhanov drew attention to the fact that earlier the DVRO SUR and the Far Eastern transport Prosecutor's office conducted joint inspections, but currently such work is no longer practiced.

– Taking into account all the circumstances, we asked the Department to provide us with possible assistance, - said the head of the DVRO SUR Nikolay Sukhanov. – Therefore, the meeting resulted in a decision to conclude a cooperation agreement between the Trade Union organization and the Far Eastern transport Prosecutor's office in order to conduct joint activities aimed at protecting the rights and interests of Russian seafaers who are employed both on Russian vessels and under the flag of convenience.