Luship workers want CEO to be sacked

LUTHERAN Shipping is run by a management that does not care about the safety equipment of the vessels or the health and career of sailors and the lives of passengers, a document says.
A covering letter dated Nov 1 2011 by all 100 crew members of Lutheran Shipping vessels gave the sole shareholder, the Evangelical Lutheran church, 14 days to yesterday to terminate the services of its chief executive officer.
The workers said in the letter if that did not happen they would resign en masse.
The crew members wanted CEO Agua Nombri to be replaced immediately by his deputy, Tonnesi Ewebi. 
“It is high time that Nombri be replaced for the good of the organisation,” they said.
Their letter was sent to Bishop Giegere Wenge and the National Maritime Safety Authority, among others.
It was signed by captains, engineering and deck officers and bosuns of all vessels – mv Momase Express, Gejamsao, Rita, Maneba, Kuder, Wewak, Talimbun, Siddy and Sir Zibang.
They said safety conditions “on board ships are no longer a priority for the management”.
They said Nombri “failed miserably with his inability and lack of strategic foresight for the business which has resulted in a loss of momentum in the company’s expansion”.
“It has caused us to lose our dominance as being the largest nationally owned shipping company.”
Nombri had been suspended by the board of Kambang Holdings, the parent company of Lutheran Shipping, in August last year, but a new board reinstated him.
He had been accused of buying new vehicles and raising the perks and privileges of a select few and renting expensive hotel accommodation and hiring security companies of wantoks to guard Lutheran Shipping yards in Madang and Lae.
In general, the sailors said, Nombri had been focused on things other than the ships.
“He had run the largest coastal shipping company down in the past 12 years,” the 98 crew members said.
The sailors said Nombri had dishonoured their awards and contracts “and has paid no heed to our petition for better working conditions resulting in a drop in morale of the general work force including seafarers who are the backbone of the organisation”.