Job creation Sala’s priority

“Most of the time the ships would request to have them come back and work…that is another reason why our partnership with Europe and United States companies is strong and continuing”

Sala Theodore To’alepai has been re-appointed for the fourth consecutive term as the General Manager of the Samoa Shipping Services (S.S.S).

Days into his new term, the man who hails from the village of Lalovaea tells the Sunday Samoan that he values the lives of young Samoans. Because of that, he believes finding employment for the young people of Samoa should be the priority.

At the Samoa Shipping Services (S.S.S), it is certainly their priority.

According to Sala, while students living in the town area shy away from being a sailor, students from rural villages and Savai’i are happy to work for their families, even if it means being away from home.

“Most of the students we get are from rural villages and many more crossing the sea from Savai’i,” said Sala.

“These students see that this is the only way they can provide for their families and for them this is their contribution by going away for months (on ships) and sending money home to build their homes or even buy a new car.”

At the moment, there are 294 students working on ships in Europe and the United States of America.

The number of those waiting for work is almost double that figure, 456 registered in S.S.S system and waiting for employment.

It’s not easy trying to accommodate all of them, but Sala is hopeful that with the joint venture from P.F.L and Neptune, more students will soon find work.

He said a meeting to discuss the number of students the shipping company will take as crew members will be finalised on the second week of December.

If there is one thing he is proud of with the crews that are working with overseas shipping lines, is that they are committed workers.

“The reports about the students from the foreign companies is that they are hard workers,” said Sala.

“Most of the time the ships would request to have them come back and work…that is another reason why our partnership with Europe and United States companies is strong and continuing.”

The General Manager also admitted that there are some negative reports he had received in the past.

He said while the most common challenge for students is homesickness, the second one is alcohol. Sala pointed out that some students have been sent back because of drinking problems and getting into fights.

To solve this problem, the General Manager said they have programmes in place that when they receive weekly reports on the students and see that they were warned, they act straight away.

“We make contact with the students, write to them and make sure they are disciplined and remind them of why they are there,” said Sala. “That is the kind of training and programme we give to assist our students out there and we want to be able to give them support if they have problems.”

S.S.S is partnership with one of the biggest shipping group in the world called Mediterranean Shipping Company.

Now going to 12 years in the position, Sala believes that being able to help the students and trying to accommodate them for work is his ultimate goal and challenge for the next three years.

Sala, 52 years old, is an ex student of St. Joseph’s College.

In 1993, he was the Finance Manager for S.S.S and later appointed as the General Manager when former G.M Toleafoa Elon Betham left to join Samoa Ports Authority in 2005.

Sala is married with three children.

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