save our sailors

A former sea captain and chairman of Bahrain International Seafarers' Society (BISS) is urging the authorities at the new Khalifa Bin Salman Port (KBSP) to provide appropriate facilities for a welfare centre for the forgotten people of the sea.

Bahraini Captain Ali Haji Hasan is passionate about the welfare of seafarers and is committed to offering them a suitable recreational space when their ships dock at the new $530 million port.

Currently the seafarers will be faced with having to make do with a temporary shelter when the facility - also known as the Bahrain Gateway - is fully operational.

Astonishingly, the charity has been forced to dig deep into its own meagre funds to buy two portable cabins.

"Bahrain, as an island, is dependant on imports most of which come through the port and it is the seafarers who bring all the essential commodities to us.

"Most of these seamen and women are unseen people and when their ships dock at the port the only thing they want is to get off, walk on steady ground and talk to people," said Captain Ali.

"What bothers me is that Bahrain has been hospitable to the seafarers in the past but over the years the island's hospitality has been diminishing for the very people it depends on."

THE Bahrain International Seafarers' Society (BISS) has been operating at Mina Salman port since 1982 and is the only charitable organisation in the kingdom that looks after the welfare of visiting seafarers by providing them with communication and recreation facilities at the port.

At the time of its inception it had several shipping agencies and multinational companies along with St Christopher's Cathedral and the port authority as its respective board members. Back then, the Seafarers' Welfare Centre was a sprawling facility with a tennis court, basketball court, a game area, a library and two recreational lounges with television, telephones to call home and a convenience shop to buy the basic essentials.

But in 2002, the welfare centre got in the way of major road works planned inside the port and was moved to a single-room 'temporary' location with a promise by the port authorities to provide better and more permanent premises. A telephone facility, computer cabins, bathrooms, library and convenience shop were all crammed in despite the facility being a quarter of the original premises. "And we have been here ever since!" said Captain Ali.

Support and funding from some of its major board member companies has also dwindled but the society has managed to keep its head above water with help from the local community and its remaining board members.

"We have a Mission to Seafarers in every port of the world with its headquarters in London. In Bahrain, the mission operates within BISS and provides funds and chaplain services to visiting seafarers," said The Very Reverend Alan Hayday, Dean of St Christopher's Cathedral and one of the board members of BISS.

"It is our duty to look after the very people who bring us the commodities that we need to survive on the island.

"Presently Khalifa Bin Salman Port authorities have allocated a 'temporary' space within a warehouse close to the customs and excise department for the welfare centre.

"BISS has bought two portable cabins out of its own meagre funds which will be put on that space. But in my opinion it is the port's duty to provide us with the facility and we should only use our funds to run the welfare centre," said Rev Hayday who is retiring to UK after spending seven years on the island.

KBSP stands on reclaimed land at Hidd and occupies a 900,000sq/m site which, although around the same size as the old Mina Salman facility, has vastly expanded capabilities.

Its storage capacity is more than double that of Mina Salman and an increase in water depth enables larger ships to dock.

At present, much of the Gulf's shipping needs are met by Dubai's massive Jebel Ali Port. However, KBSP with its excellent location next to Saudi Arabia and the Qatar-Bahrain causeway in the pipeline will provide an ideal hub for shipping companies.

With an increasing number of ships coming into the new port, numbers of sea men and women visiting the welfare centre is expected to vastly increase.

"In 2007, 4,313 visitors logged in at the welfare centre. In 2008, the numbers shot up to 5,148 and in 2009 till the month of April we had 2,634 visitors. Two portacabins are simply not enough to cater to the number of visiting seafarers," said Captain Ali.

The Seafarers Welfare Centre is open to all sea men and women of all nationalities and religion regardless of their rank on the ship.

Serving seamen in Bahrain today said how important the facility was to them. "A welfare centre like this is crucial for us especially for those who do not get shore leave and are restricted to the port," said Aqil Khan, 37, from Mardan in the north of Pakistan.

He is the second officer on board the Greek owned vessel, Antonios 1, that docked on Mina Salman port last month, and has helped guide the vessel through the perilous pirate-invested waters of the Gulf of Aden.

"I use the telephone to make contact with my family in Pakistan as the ship's communication system is restricted and expensive to use," he added.

"I get the opportunity to use the internet and meet other sailors from different ships which is very important when I have been on ship for several weeks."

Captain Emad Fathelbab of the Osnabruck, a vessel that routinely visits Bahrain, deemed the Seafarers Welfare Centre as a valued facility frequented by his crew members when off duty. But apart from providing much needed recreation, BISS provides the necessary support to the sailors stranded in Bahrain with Captain Ali rallying to fight for the sailors' rights.

"In the late 1990s, 26 crew members from Burma were stranded in Bahrain for two years due to a dispute between the shipping company and the contracting company.

"We fed them and boarded them till they left the island. The people who bear the brunt of such disputes are the seafarers as no one comes to their rescue, at times not even their own embassies," said Captain Ali quoting several cases of stranded seamen which is common place in major ports around the world.

"You can only understand the loneliness and misery of a seafarer if you have been one," said the 65-year-old captain who first went to sea in 1964. He retired in 1998 after holding various managerial positions at the port. He has been the chairman of BISS for the last 12 years and holds seafarers' welfare close to his heart.

BISS submitted a feasibility study in December 2008 to the General Organisation of Seaports and will be moving to the 'temporary' space at KBSP this week with the help of one of its supporters, Gulf Agency.

But the charity hopes that port officials at the higher office will understand the need for a more permanent and adequate facility.

"Going by past experience I feel that maybe the port authorities do not appreciate our society's services but I am still hopeful," said Captain Ali. "I'd like to think that the port authorities will realise the need of seafarers and respond in an appropriate manner," added Rev Hayday.

Along with the move, BISS is desperately trying to find ways to generate its own funds for its survival.

As support and donations from big companies have dried up it would be very easy for the charity to go under especially with an expected increase in demand for its facilities. "We will continue to work and operate the centre despite difficulties because if we pack up lots of unseen visitors to Bahrain will suffer," said Captain Ali.

No one was available to comment on the issue at the new port despite repeated requests by GulfWeekly.

l If GulfWeekly readers wish to support this sea worthy charity they should contact Capt Ali on 39987330 or email alghawas@batelco.com.bh