Captain Ivan Srzentic from the Professional Seafarers's Union of Jadrolinija (SSPJ) was a guest on N1 Studio's "Novi dan" programme, where he commented on the situation following the recent tragedy in Mali Losinj, in which three seamen died after the ramp of the ferry "Lastovo" collapsed.

Srzentic referred to a statement by the responsible minister Oleg Butkovic.

“It was a typically vague and unclear statement. The minister’s words had nothing to do with the problems that the union has been warning about for years.”

Minister Butkovic had stated that he had had a meeting with the representative trade union.

“We, the non-representative trade unions, sent him a letter a few days earlier, which we have been systematically sending out for years. But our proposals, which only concern the safety and renewal of the fleet, are not taken into account by him,” he said.

The crew works for 14 hours

“How much longer can we talk about the safety of a 56-year-old ship on which the crew sometimes works 14 hours? These are not safe ships. That’s the most important point in this whole story,” he added.

When asked why the seafarers are willing to work 14 hours, he replied: “Because of their love for the islands and Jadrolinija. It would be impossible to maintain them otherwise.”

Srzentic emphasised that communication between the management and the SSPJ and the Seafarers’ Union of Croatia is non-existent.

Non-compliance with conventions

The management said that all annual overhauls have been carried out and that they have all the necessary certificates.

“As for the certificates themselves, it is normal that we have them. How else would we work?” said Srzentic, adding that although Jadrolinija has signed various conventions, it ultimately does not adhere to them:

“We recently signed a collective labour agreement, but we do not abide by it. That’s the way it is with everything in Jadrolinija. We have all the paperwork, but we do not stick to it.”

An unnamed crew member

“The public is talking about some imaginary rescuers of the fourth crew member. I must emphasise the crew member Zvonimir Franic, who saved his colleague by jumping into the sea. That says everything about how much the sailors of Jadrolinija care about their ships and colleagues. And yet no one has mentioned this.

This self-congratulation of the management and the nonsense they tell – cosmetic nonsense about some new ships,” warned Srzentic.

He says he does not believe in change. “I do not expect anything from the current leadership, and unfortunately that’s the truth. With this leadership that turns a blind eye to all the problems we have pointed out since 2017, I expect nothing. We expected the main people responsible to be sacked.”

Srzentic is disappointed with the statement issued by President of the Management board David Sopta following the tragedy:

“Yesterday the CEO said something that sounded very inappropriate: ‘Let us focus on continuing the season.’ We are talking about a ferry company that carries islanders, our locals, all year round. He managed to say that we should focus on continuing the season.”