The newly formed Association in the maritime sector ‘’Association of Seafarer Recruiting Agents (ASRA)’’ commenced its activities with a meeting of the Executive Committee recently.
It is a timely initiative by the Executive Chairman of the Ceyline Group and Chairman of CINEC Campus Capt. Ajith Peiris, since the present Minister of Ports and Shipping Rohitha Abeygunawardena will lead a Public/Private Sector Project (PPP) to embark on a task to increase the employment of Sri Lankan youth on ships.
The purpose of forming ASRA are, To encourage its members to explore and increase the employment opportunities to the Sri Lankan youth on foreign ships and to be the voice of the Seafarer Manning Industry and to represent (matters related to the Seafarer Recruiting Industry)to the relevan tAuthorities, Association and the Sri Lankan Government. Though Sri Lanka is an island, the number of people engaged in the Maritime Sector specially the Seafaring segment is very low compared to the population. Out of an approximately 21 million people in Sri Lanka, only 16,000 are active seafarers, which is less than 0.1% of the population.
The present government’s aim is to increase this number to 50,000 in the next five years with the help of the Seafarer Manning Industry.
The foreign exchange Sri Lanka earns from the employment of Seafarers on foreign ships is approximately US$ 300 million per annum. With the Government’s planned project, the expected earnings will increase to USD 1 billion per annum.
ASRA and its members will be contributing and helping the above project where it will not only benefit its members but also the Sri Lankan youth and our country Sri Lanka as a whole. The Association invites all the companies who are involved in seafarer recruitment to join ASRA and show the strength of the Sri Lankan Seafaring Industry to the rest of the Maritime nations in the world, to make them aware of our potential to man their ships.
“Our aim is to promote the Seafaring profession to all the districts and possibly most of the villages in Sri Lanka thus with the high earning capacity of the people from these towns and villages, the standards of living in those areas will improve which will have a very positive effect on the economy of our country,” an official said.
ASRA will join hands with the Shipping Ministry to introduce and promote our Seafarers to the Maritime nations/major ship owning countries in the world who will be the potential employers for our Sri Lankan seafarers.
At the first meeting of ASRA, the following office bearers and Executive Committee members were elected: Chairman - Capt. Ajith Peiris - Ceyline Group, Secretry - Capt. Rohan Codipilly - Mercantile Marine Management Ltd., Treasurer - Dharshana Senanayake – SeaMate Lanka (Pvt) Ltd.
Executive Committee Members: Jagath Perera - Win - Stone Shipping (Pvt) Ltd, Himantha Devendra - Dev Marine Agencies (Pvt) Ltd, Kalinga De Silva - Centrum Marine Consultancy (Pvt) Ltd, Prashantha Karunanayake - UNK Sagacious (Pvt) Ltd and Capt. Hemantha Madanayake - CMA Ships Lanka (Pvt) Ltd.
