The international shipping firm Columbus Line has announced it will stop hiring I-Kiribati seamen in future.
Pacific Magazine reports the decision was made after another three I-Kiribati seamen were caught drug smuggling in the port of Philadelphia in August.
The trio were crew on a Columbus Line ship, Cap San Augustin, the same ship where three previous I-Kiribati seamen, were caught for the same crime.
Because of this illegal action by the Kiribati seamen, the Cap San Augustine has been blacklisted in the United States.