H’tota ship seizure sparks fears of international maritime commerce at southern port

By Dharisha Bastians 

Foreign merchant vessels will rethink docking at the Hambantota Port after protesting dock workers seized a Japanese ship and prevented it leaving the harbour for four days, local shipping agents said yesterday. 

Tressel Silva, Operations Manager for ABC Shipping, the local agent for the Japanese owned vessel seized by workers, said another ship owned by the same company was scheduled to dock in Hambantota on 17 December. 

“We are now discussing with our principals about the possibility of diverting this vessel to Colombo to unload its cargo, especially since the strike is still on in Hambantota,” Silva told Daily FT in an interview yesterday. 

“Foreign companies will think twice about sending ships to Hambantota under these circumstances,” Silva noted. 

The ABC Shipping Operations Manager said that the company had made representations personally to President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Ports Minister Arjuna Ranatunga to secure the release of the vessel. 

Hyperion Highway, a vessel owned by Japanese company K Line shipping which docked at the Hambantota harbour on 6 December was held hostage by port workers demanding permanent employment at the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA). 

Hyperion Highway which had a foreign crew comprising Indonesians and Filipinos onboard was prevented from leaving port after striking dock workers lowered gantry cranes and positioned forklifts to make it impossible to unmoor the ship for departure. The Japanese owned vessel was finally rescued by the Sri Lanka Navy on Sunday (11) which escorted the merchant ship with its cargo of vehicles out of the harbour in offshore patrol vessels. 

While there had been no damage to the ship or the foreign crew during the seizure, Silva said the company had suffered estimated losses of up to $ 400,000 owing to delays leaving the Hambantota Port. 

Hyperion Highway’s next port of call was Sohar, Oman, and the local agent said that the company had already received letters of protest from agents in the Gulf port about its failure to deliver the cargo at the destination on the promised date. 

For nearly a week now, 438 workers attached to the private port management company Magampura Port Management Company (MPMC) have been engaged in protests demanding induction into the permanent cadre of the State-owned SLPA.

The dock workers fear job losses in the wake of a Government deal to transfer an 80% stake in the loss-making Hambantota Port to the Chinese owned China Merchant Ports Holding Company as a public-private partnership. 

Ports Minister Ranatunga condemned the seizure of the international vessel by the workers as unacceptable, but insisted the Government was still intent on discussing issues with workers to ensure no jobs were lost in the proposed Joint Venture with the Chinese company. 

The Ports Minister has accused Hambantota District MP Namal Rajapaksa’s Nil Balakaya organisation as being behind the protests. Over 50 percent of the striking dock workers were members of Rajapaksa’s youth movement and had been used for election campaigning during the previous regime, Ranatunga charged. 

In a press briefing on Monday (12), Ranatunga said that the SLPA was in the process of estimating property damaged at the Hambantota port by striking workers, which he said included damage to computer systems, plumbing, air-conditioners and CCTV systems. The damages would be claimed from workers, the Minister insisted. 

In a post on his official Facebook page, Deputy Foreign Minister Dr Harsha De Silva called the protestors “pirates” who were being mobilised by disruptive political forces to block the free movement of maritime commerce in the island. 

Speaking in Parliament on the issue, State Minister for Defence Ruwan Wijewardane also defended sending the Navy in to release the vessel, saying that the seizure of the ship by striking workers was an act of “piracy”. 

Strongly denying allegations by the Joint Opposition that the Navy had shot at protesting workers, Wijewardane insisted that the Government would hand over control of the Harbour to the Sri Lanka Navy if the strike continued to disrupt the smooth functioning of the port. 

“Once the workers seized the ship, they were no longer protesting civilians. They became pirates,” the State Minister for Defence told Parliament. 

Defence Ministry launches probe into Navy Chief’s assault on scribe

The Defence Ministry has launched an investigation into the alleged attack on a journalist by Navy Chief Vice Admiral Ravindra Wijeguneratne, the Sri Lanka Navy confirmed yesterday, even as local media watchdogs and activists called for legal action against the Commander. 

Navy Spokesman Captain Akram Alawi told Daily FT that the Defence Ministry had initiated an inquiry into the alleged assault on the journalist, and confirmed that the reporter had breached the security cordon which had resulted in the tension on Sunday (11).  The Navy would make no further comment on the incident until the inquiry was complete, the Spokesman noted. 

Vice Admiral Wijeguneratne refused to comment on the incident when contacted by Daily FT yesterday, but said he would be making his statement on what transpired at the Hambantota Port on Sunday during the inquiry. 

The Navy Chief was caught on camera assaulting a television reporter Roshan Gunesekera and abusing him in foul language even after he identified himself as a journalist. 

Vice Admiral Wijeguneratne led the Sri Lanka Navy team that arrived in the harbour by boat on Sunday to release the Japanese-owned merchant vessel that had been seized by protesting workers, delaying its departure by four days.

The Navy Spokesman said that the Navy Commander was the Competent Authority under the International Ship and Ports Facility Security code, a post-9/11 amendment to the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Convention on minimum security arrangements for ships, ports and government agencies, that governs situations like the ship seizure by the dock workers at the Hambantota Port last week. 

The Spokesman said that while a representative of the Competent Authority – the Navy Chief – was stationed in ports around the island, the Vice Admiral had led the operation at the Hambantota Port personally because of the volatile nature of the situation. 

“The seizure can be termed an act of piracy because nobody can seize vessels either at sea or in harbour without the necessary authority,” Captain Alawi said. 

The Government meanwhile has reemphasised that it condemns the assault on a journalist covering the Hambantota dock workers’ strike in the strongest possible terms. 

Government Information Department Director General Dr. Ranga Kalansooriya came in for a storm of criticism after his initial statement on Sunday reacting to the assault said the journalist had failed to adhere to “basic ethics” in covering volatile situations, even as he also condemned the attack and said the Government had already launched an investigation into the incident. 

The Free Media Movement and the Young Journalists Association have called for a full investigation and legal action against the Navy Chief over the assault on the reporter. Several media rights activists criticised the Government Information Department statement which appeared to blame the journalist for provoking the attack, and said video footage of the incident did not match the Government narrative. 

But on Monday, Dr. Kalansooriya stood by his statement, saying that the journalist had breached a security cordon created by naval officers in their attempts to release the foreign vessel. 

The Director General noted that the journalist had breached the security cordon and moved away from the rest of his colleagues from the press and refused to heed the advice of naval personnel who had insisted journalists remain in one particular place for their own safety. “This journalist moved away from his colleagues and tried to do a different job,” Dr Kalansooriya said. 

The Government official was also strongly critical of news organisations which force provincial correspondents like Gunesekera into fierce competition with other reporters to earn a living. The incident emphasised the importance of training for provincial correspondents to ensure they pursue their profession in safety, Dr. Kalansooriya, a former media rights activist, asserted.