MANAGING director of Goundar Shipping, George Goundar, has told the Standing Committee on Economic Affairs that drug abuse among seafarers is now the single biggest threat facing the shipping industry in Fiji.
Mr Goundar made the comments while making a submission yesterday on the Employment Relations (Amendment) Bill.
“Drugs are the biggest thing in shipping,” he said.
He told the committee he had dismissed two crew members yesterday because of intoxication.
“I fired two this (yesterday) morning. The ship came in last night at two o’clock in the morning. Passengers went home. This morning at seven o’clock, two of my crew staggered in, drunk.”
Mr Goundar said the level of intoxication was alarming.
He also described a recent incident involving crew members who could not be awakened.
“On Saturday, a captain tried to wake up two of his crew. He couldn’t,” Mr Goundar said.
“What woke them up was a bucket of water — they were high on drugs.”
He told the committee the situation has left him fearing for public safety.
“As a ship owner, I’m scared to send my ship out some time. Not knowing — is the captain drunk? Has the captain been tested? Or the chief mate has been tested?”
Mr Goundar recalled a serious incident in Ellington several years ago, alleging failures in oversight.
“My captain and chief mate were drunk,” he said.
“MSAF (Maritime Safety Authority of Fiji) cleared them to sail. By the time I called the police to stop the vessel, the vessel was already cleared.”
He said a culture of silence within the industry was putting lives at risk.
“It’s brotherhood in seamanship, but the public doesn’t understand that,” he said.
“Sometimes I’m scared to sleep at night, not knowing when I’ll get a phone call at two in the morning — vessels on the reef.
“This is what we’ve got to confront. Because as a ship owner, I struggle every night.”
