London based International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) is planning to take Sri Lank off its Flag of Convenience list as Sri Lanka’s labour standards are better than most countries on the list.

The term Flag of Convenience is used to denote ships whose owners are of one country that are registered in another country.

"This is done so that the ships do not have to maintain the necessary labour standards on board because those countries have not ratified international conventions," said Palitha Athukorale, President, National Union of Seafarers Sri Lanka, an affiliate of ITF.

He said that seafarers faced many difficulties working on board vessels under the Flag of Convenience such as not being paid the agreed upon wages.

He told the Island Financial Review that it was big business; countries selling their flags to foreign vessels.

"Flag states such as the Bahamas, Liberia and the Marshal Islands are on this list," Athukorale said.

These three countries are the biggest flag states after Panama with a combined world gross tonnage of 20 percent.

However, these countries were the first to ratify the ILO Maritime Labour Convention.

Doumbia-Henry, Director, ILO International Labour Standards Department, said that the reason for this was because these flag states wanted seats in the Maritime Labour Convention Board.

Athukorale said that the seafarers are the most exploited and welcomed the new convention as it would ensure better standards for seafarers.

He said that major ports around the world have ITF inspectors to assist seafarers when needed, such as when a seafarer is stranded without transit visas and when disputes arise.

"When on a ship, they are completely at the mercy of the ship’s captain and there have been many instances of hardship and foul play and that is why the ITF maintains the Flag of Convenience list so that seafarers will know what they are getting into," Athukorale said.

While Sri Lankan ship officers have no difficulty finding jobs the seafarers of the ranks are finding it difficult to find work, he said.

Athukorale said that Sri Lanka has about 30,000 registered seafarers of whom only nine to ten thousand have employment.

"A recent study conducted by the ITF showed that 12,000 new ships from China and South Korea will roll into the waves over the next two years and this will create about 200,000 new vacancies. The government should urgently take steps to ensure that Sri Lankans seafarers get a significant share of this," he said.

The ship owners will obviously look at recruiting seafarers from developing countries as it is less costly and Sri Lanka must be ready to seize the opportunity.

But, Flag of Convenience vessels are a big problem and that is why the ILO Maritime Labour Convention is going to be important, Athukorale said.

Associate Expert of the ILO International Labour Standards Department, Timo Knabe, said that it was difficult to make an assessment of overall working condition on board ships.

"But there is a tendency for ships to fly under flags of countries with poor labour regulations just to gain a cost benefit," he said.

When the Deputy Director of the Merchant Shipping Division, A. R. M. Abeyratne Banda addressed the delegates at the Seminar on the ILO Maritime Labour Convention he said that about 18,000 seafarers are actively engaged on vessels out of the 30,000 registered.

"Sri Lanka has already entered into agreements with 25 countries to recognise our seafarers’ competency certificates," he said.