Mercantile Marine Management first in South Asia to get MLC certification

Mercantile Marine Management Ltd (MMM) was certified by Germanischer Lloyd as meeting with the recruitment and placement requirements of the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 (MLC 2006).

This certifies that the company conforms to the standards set forth in Regulation 1.4 of the MLC 2006. The certificate was officially handed over to the company on 31th January during a ceremony at their headquarters in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

“We have maintained our standards and best practices with our international and regional clients from the beginning and therefore it was not a difficult task for us to attain the MLC requirements but it is a great prestige for us as a company to be certified to meet upcoming international regulations and to be on par with the demands of the international arena” said Capt. Rohan Codipilly, Director/ General Manager of Mercantile Marine Management in his comments.

Adopted by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in 2006, the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 deals with the working and living environment of seafarers on seagoing ships. The new Convention provides both mandatory requirements and non-mandatory guidelines on issues such as age, qualification, hours of work and rest, the existence of seafarer’s employment agreements, evidence of payment of wages, manning levels, medical care, and the availability of decent accommodations and recreational facilities for seafarers, as well as food and catering.

Capt. Codipilly went on to say that MMM being certified under the MLC would advance the country’s profile in the international maritime crew supply industry since ship-owners will be obliged to choose the crew sources from certified sources.

The local ship management industry is steadily gaining international recognition with new buildings entering the Sri Lankan Flag and management from Colombo. Sri Lanka is once again being recognized as a stable nation able to supply well-trained Seafarers especially Officers; the demand to employ local seafarers keeps increasing steadily.

Mercantile Marine Management was established in the year 1996 as a vehicle to provide ship management to the international shipping industry. The company’s core services include Ship Management,Crew Management, and Training.

“MMM is headed by a versatile top management team with international exposure backed by a well qualified staff that equally live up to the tasks both ashore and afloat and has shown great commitment in maintaining quality of their services” commented Mr. Lal De Silva Managing Director, Germanischer Lloyd Sri Lanka.