S’porean firm disputes NYT report, says it is not recruiter

SINGAPORE — Step Up Marine Enterprise is merely an intermediary that plays no role in recruiting seafarers such as the late Eril Andrade, the company said in response to TODAY’s queries.

Step Up’s manager Jessie Goh stressed that the firm only makes transport, food and accommodation arrangements for the Filipino men.

“We are not the agent. We are helping only the recruiters in Taiwan to fetch the men, let them stay and eat, and the next day or two, they will go home to Philippines … We are in the middle, we are just fetching, sending, (providing) food and lodging, and they all misunderstand us as their agent,” said Ms Goh, who is in her 40s.

“We just follow what the recruiters in Taiwan want us to help to do. I have been explaining this many times. This has nothing to do with us.”

Ms Goh also disputed The New York Times’ report that Step Up officials offered to pay Andrade’s family some S$5,000 after his death. “That money did not come from us. It is not true,” she said.

The firm, which operates at People’s Park Complex in Chinatown, was established in 1988 as Step Up Employment Agency, but changed its name in 1995. Based on records kept by the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA), Step Up Marine Enterprise is registered as a “ship chandler and commission agent” that offers ship management consultancy services.

According to The New York Times, the sign for Step Up at its shopfront has been replaced with one that reads “123 Employment Agency”, a sole proprietorship managed by the Step Up owner’s son. Both Step Up and 123 Employment Agency are registered with ACRA under the same address.