Local shipping mogul George Goundar is  recruiting skilled foreign seafarers to work on his ships.

The Goundar Shipping Limited (GSL) owner and managing director, has confirmed that he has approval to get in crew members from the Philippines

“We are getting roughly about 40 Filipinos  who include engineers, deck hands, catering and all the sectors which we have been struggling,” Mr Goundar said.

He said the crew would be in the country in  the next two weeks.

He said the new crews would be on all five ships – Lomaiviti Princess I, II, III, IV and V.

“We don’t have the man power in Fiji but need to go  overseas now.

“We have lodged the immigration papers today (last week Friday). Hopefully we get a clearance within a week.

“The crew will be here on the first week of January.”

He said the biggest challenge he faced was  crew shortage.

“The biggest challenge that we have locally is availability of labour and under qualified seafarers.

“We have approached the Ministry as it is a concern since we are the largest local shipping company in the country.

“We provide work to over 200 people in Fiji.

“We are concerned about the market here everyone goes overseas and they leave a big vacuumhere.

“What we have seen in the past people take advantage who were working for me Goundar shipping getting the power and talents than its easy for them to get in the overseas vessel.

“We have approached Government, the Ministry of Labour and Immigration; they have listened to our concern and they have approved it.

He said due to lack of seafarers one of his vessels Lomaiviti Princes III had been in port the last three months.

“This is because of lack of labour commitment of the seafarers.

“Lomaiviti Princess III was serving  Savusavu, Koro and Tavuni the major route but she has been laid out for three months because of shortage of crew.

“We are not perfect but we are trying to improve our services.

“We are listening to the public on the demand and schedule.

“We will continue to deliver the best service for our customers.

“We are sometimes delayed on our schedule but we manage to get them  to their destinations safely.”