Vital to exempt seafarers from travel bans

(Posted on 20/03/20)

Joint open letter to United Nations agencies from the global maritime transport industry. To:

Director General, United Nations International Labour Organization

Secretary-General, United Nations International Maritime Organization

Secretary-General, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

Director General, World Health Organization.

Facilitating Crew Changes to Keep World Trade Moving Throughout the Covid-19 Crisis

As the COVID-19 pandemic takes hold it is vital that all governments keep maritime trade moving by continuing to allow commercial ships access to ports worldwide and by facilitating the movement and rapid changeover of ships’ crews.

We are writing on behalf of the International Chamber Shipping (ICS), which represents the world’s national shipowners’ associations and over 80% of the world’s merchant shipping tonnage, and the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), which speaks on behalf of approximately two million seafarers who operate the world’s internationally-trading commercial ships.

As the COVID-19 pandemic takes hold, it is important for the world’s governments to fully understand that around 90% of global trade is transported by commercial shipping, which moves the world’s food, energy and raw materials, as well as manufactured goods and components – including vital medical supplies and many products sold in supermarkets, items that are necessary (due to complex supply chains) for the preservation of many jobs in manufacturing – without which modern society simply cannot function.

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.

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.

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.

Yours faithfully,

Guy Platten, Secretary General, International Chamber of Shipping Stephen Cotton, General Secretary, International Transport Workers Federation

Latest News

Red Sea conflict brings massive shipping carbon emissions increases

Conflict in the Red Sea has brought massive carbon emissions increases in ocean freight shipping, according... Read more

WFW advises Danaos on US$450m newbuild vessel financing

Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) has advised Danaos Corporation (“Danaos&rdquo... Read more

North Pacific Green Corridor Consortium forms new corridor

Global industry leaders from North America, Asia and Europe have announced the formation of the North... Read more

Tomini Dynasty Captain receives prestigious Gallantry Award

Tomini Group, a world-class dry bulk ship owner, has announced that Captain Om Dutta has been honoured... Read more

Singapore retains top spot as world’s leading maritime city

Singapore has retained its title as the leading maritime city in the world, followed by Rotterdam and... Read more

AtoB@C Shipping takes delivery of Stellamar

AtoB@C Shipping, a subsidiary of ESL Shipping, the leading carrier of dry bulk cargoes in the Baltic... Read more

Maritime industry leaders to explore ammonia as marine fuel on US West Coast

American Bureau of Shipping, CALAMCO, Fleet Management Limited, Sumitomo Corporation and TOTE Services... Read more

MMS raises awareness over improper use of antibiotics on board vessels

Leading provider of medical support services for crews, Marine Medical Solutions (MMS), is concerned... Read more

ESL to sell Supramaxes

ESL Shipping, a leading carrier of dry bulk cargoes in the Baltic region, has signed a memorandum of... Read more

Sustainable fuels can reach cost parity with fossil fuels by 2035

New Wärtsilä analysis shows EU ETS and FuelEU Maritime will close price gap, creating policy... Read more