The Day of the Seafarer, held on 25 June every year, draws global attention to the contribution that seafarers make to world trade. As the world slowly moves through the pandemic, it is more important than ever not only to acknowledge the efforts that seafarers have made to keeping the supply chain open despite extremely challenging conditions, but also to ensure that the future being built is one that is fair to them. This is why IMO’s 2021 Day of the Seafarer campaign has chosen the theme of...
Seafarers Are Key Workers
Global Shipping Fleet To Sound Horns On June 25th – Day of the Seafarer
To support the need to vaccinate global seafarers against the coronavirus, ships will sound horns at Canadian ports at noon Friday. The ships will sound horns along the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River to aid in the global seafarer vaccination effort. On Tuesday, the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation uploaded a press release on its official website to this effect.
The Canadian entities mentioned in the press release included the Association of Canadian Port Authorities, Chamber of...
Bimco releases movie to urge decision-makers to support seafarers
International shipping industry body, BIMCO is launching “Seafarers Deserve Support”, the second in the series of films produced to raise awareness, this time calling on governments and decision-makers world-wide to step up and support the seafarers behind world trade.
On any given day, around one million seafarers are working on some 60,000 large cargo ships world-wide. It has been estimated that in...
Asian Shipowners Association declares support for seafarers and condemns no-crew change clauses
The plight of seafarers during the the COVID pandemic was on the top of the agenda at a recent meeting of the Asian Shipowners’ Association.
Chairman of ASA Ship Insurance and Liability Committee, Mr Richard Hext said, ‘At the peak of the crew change crisis last year, around 400,000 seafarers were stranded at sea. This figure has mercifully reduced to around 200,000, but is still intolerable.
“It is especially disappointing to see cases of...
Global Shipping Fleet To Sound Horns On 25th June Signifying The Need To Vaccinate All Seafarers
The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), along with industry and social partners, are encouraging ships in ports around the world to sound their horns at 12 noon local time on 25th June, in honour of the International Maritime Organisations’ ‘Day of the Seafarer’, to remind the world of the urgent need to vaccinate all seafarers.
Last year’s campaign brought the crew change crisis to the world’s attention. Almost a year on, the number of crew impacted by the governments’ border restrictions...
IMO’s Secretary-General Urges Fair Vaccine Distribution For Seafarers
IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim has called on all IMO Member States to support fair global distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, beyond fulfilling their national needs, to ensure seafarers can access vaccines.
In a statement, Mr. Lim reiterated his call for seafarers and marine personnel to be designated as “key workers” and noted that some key maritime labour supply countries are reliant on the COVAX initiative of the World Health Organization (WHO) to access vaccines.
“To ensure access to...
UN Task Force Should Probe Why Govts. Failed To Fulfill Obligations To Seafarers During Pandemic: ITF
Shipowners and seafarers’ representatives have asked the United Nations to establish an interagency task force to examine the implementation and practical application of the MLC, 2006 during the pandemic, including its impact on seafarers’ fundamental rights and on the shipping industry.
The crew change crisis peaked at over 400,000 seafarers trapped on ships working beyond their contracts because of local Covid restrictions and the failure of governments to cooperate and coordinate to address...
Shipowners’ Wage Cuts Plan A Slap In The Face For Pandemic Heroes: ITF Seafarers
The world’s seafarers yesterday took the extraordinary decision to shut down negotiations over the future of seafarers’ minimum wages with national shipowners represented by the International Chamber of Shipping. The seafarers’ unions said they would prefer to tackle the shipping companies ‘head-on’ to set wages unilaterally rather than risk decades of established ILO practices by agreeing to employers’ demands to ditch objective ILO minimum wage calculations.
“For only the second time in the...
Shipping industry signs declaration to tackle the seafarer crisis
Over 400 companies have formally vowed to help resolve the crew crisis by signing up to the Neptune Declaration on Seafarer Wellbeing and Crew Change.
Shipping Australia is one of the signatories.
According to the ILO, about 300,000 seafarers are trapped on vessels and 300,000 more seafarers ashore are facing financial ruin if they can’t go to work.
The crisis has been caused by government responses to curtail the COVID-19 pandemic. Government actions include...
https://shippingaustralia.com.au/shipping-industry-signs-declaration-to-tackle-the-seafarer-crisis/
Governments Have Failed In Their Duty Of Care Towards Seafarers Under International Law – ILO
In a landmark ruling the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) Committee of Experts has sent a strong message to governments that they have failed in their duty of care towards seafarers under international law during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the first ruling of its kind, the committee of 20 eminent jurists has found that governments have failed abjectly to protect the minimum standards for the protection of seafarers’ rights, as set out in international law under the Maritime Labour...