ICS and ITF call on UN agencies to ensure ports stay open and allow crew changes

The letter sent to the Director General, United Nations International Labour Organization (ILO), Secretary-General, United Nations International Maritime Organization (IMO), Secretary-General, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, and Director General, World Health Organization (WHO) emphasises that is vital that governments keep maritime trade moving as the COVID-19 pandemic takes hold.

“In this time of global crisis, it is more important than ever to keep supply chains open and maritime trade and transport moving. In particular, this means keeping the world’s ports open for calls by visiting commercial ships, and facilitating crew changes and the movement of ships’ crews with as few obstacles as possible,” the letter signed by Guy Platten, Secretary General, ICS and Stephen Cotton, General Secretary, ITF said.

“Every month, around 100,000 seafarers need to be changed over from the ships which they operate in order to comply with relevant international maritime regulations, governing safe working hours and crew welfare, so that they can continue to transport global trade safely.

“We therefore wish to emphasise the vital need for the world’s professional merchant seafarers to be granted appropriate exemptions from any national travel restrictions, when joining or leaving their ships, in order to keep the world’s maritime supply chains functioning.”

Related:Shipowner organisations highlight the risks of banning crew changes

The organisations representing 80% of global shipping tonnage and roughly 2m seafarers wants to see seafarers treated in the same way as airline crew and medical personnel.

“In view of their vital role during the global pandemic, we suggest that professional seafarers, regardless of nationality, should be treated as any other international ‘key workers’, such as airline crew and medical personnel.  As such, they should be afforded special consideration and, notwithstanding the need to comply with emergency health protocols, treated with pragmatism and understanding when seeking to travel to and from their ships.

“We therefore call on your organisations to highlight the critical importance of this issue with the governments of your member states.

“We request, as a matter of urgency, that this topic be added to the agenda of appropriate high level meetings, and that national authorities in your organisations’ member states should be encouraged to engage immediately with their national shipowners’ association and national seafarers’ union, in order to find rapid solutions to this serious problem which otherwise risks impeding global efforts to address the COVID-19 pandemic,” the ICS and ITF concluded.

Related:COVID-19 and crew changes – A ship manager’s view