As an IMO Goodwill Maritime Ambassador and the council member of the Nautical Institute United Kingdom and Secretary of the Sri Lanka Branch, I feel this is one of my duty and the time to raise the voice on behalf of the seafaring Professionals and future Mariners as more than 100,000 Mariners are stranded at Sea, and living as prisoners on board due to the travelling restrictions imposed worldwide.
It was reported that signing on and signing off procedures all over the world are being temporarily suspended by most of the countries which result in Seafarers to stuck onboard and watching at the horizon without hope.
The Nautical Institute, the United Kingdom which represents about 7,000 members across 70 countries around the Globe, raising their voice to treat seafarers as Key workers and Governments to allow the repatriation for those who have stranded at sea.CEO Capt. John Lloyd is giving their (NI) inputs to the IMO and addressing their prestigious members around the world and make them feel that they are not alone during this Pandemic crisis time.
The shipping industry has called for seafarers to be designated as key workers, to keep vital maritime supply chains flowing during this Global crisis due to COVID 19. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) Secretary-General Kitack Lim urged the United Nations to request governments to declare seafarers, port personnel and other crucial maritime workers as “key personnel” amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Lim also has made the plea during a video meeting with UN chiefs and the UN Secretary-General to discuss the impacts of COVID-19 crisis. During the meeting, Lim has highlighted the importance and well-being of maritime workers to keep the global supply chain alive, and particularly the world’s seafarers who are on one of the front lines in the fight against COVID-19.
Lim has brought attention to travel bans and restrictions on crew changes imposed by governments due to the pandemic, and the impacts of these restrictions have on the flow of goods, including critical items such as pharmaceuticals, medical equipment and food supply.
The IMO has issued many circulars to overcome the issues facing by the shipping industry due to the present crisis.
The Ships are subjected to many Statutory and Class surveys and audits as required by the regulations to keep the safer ships and cleaner ocean. The IMO and Flag states issued guidelines and Shipping notices extending existing Certificates including Statutory, STCW Certificates, Medical certificates etc to keep the Maritime trade functioning as the 90% of Global trade borne by the sea. There is no other way of keeping the ships on moving other than extending the validity of the certificates, without jeopardizing the sea trade, but may threaten the safer ships Cleaner ocean as a result of extending the certificates without been doing the surveys and audits.
One of the goals of IMO, as stated in its Convention, is to ensure the availability of shipping services to the commerce of the world, for the benefit of humanity. IMO urge all IMO Member States to bear this in mind when framing their policy decisions with to the coronavirus. Defeating the virus must be the first priority, but global trade, in a safe, secure and environmentally friendly manner must be able to continue, too.
In the joint letter to the UN, the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) and the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) says the world’s governments must ensure ports remain open while facilitating crew changes with as few obstacles as possible.
They wrote: “Every month, around 100,000 seafarers need to be changed over from the ships they operate to comply with relevant international maritime regulations, governing safe working hours and crew welfare.
They also urged that “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, to keep the world’s maritime supply chains functioning”.
The live AIS screenshot of marine traffic makes you understand the ships moving at that instant. Those ships trade foods, raw materials, Oil and Gas, grains, fertilizers, finished products from East to West, North to South and vice-versa. The seafarers take care of the goods once loaded, no matter goods are on, FOB, CIF or time or voyage charter, but safely delivered to the destination. They cross major oceans
without sleeping and, sailing through the cyclones, experiencing heavy seas, pitching and rolling, heat and cold, haze and fog, wind and thunderstorms while they are away from their loved ones.
Why we call seafarer is a “ Key Worker” not only because of he makes the key contribution to the shipping trade, but he is taking part of protecting the sea by preventing Marine and Air pollution by strict compliance to the regulations, Also a major stakeholder of the economy by bringing of Foreign currencies to a country. Not only that, but Seafarer is also a well trained professional who keeps upgrading of their knowledge and certificates by means regular training and examinations.
It is the time to raise the voice, Governments to understand the role of the seafarer as around 90% of global trade is transported by commercial shipping.
Seafaraes sail through war zones, dangerous areas and this is why they are called Key workers. They also sail through Tropical Cyclones and Typhoons
They sail through the high-risk areas declared by the JWC (Joint War Committee) as required by the shipowner or the charterer after paying the additional premium to the underwriters for their benefit, It does not mean that the risk of the seafarers is being eliminated by just paying the additional premium. The Seafarer stomach all these risks while sailing.
Marines to sail through the Cyclone to catch the lay can as per the commercial shipping requirement through heavy seas on deck and terrible pitching and rolling.
Sometimes they face two or more typhoons while sailing through the South China Sea. The picture shows two Typhoons at a time. One of our vessels was sailing in this area while both typhoons bothering the route of the vessel.
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) Special Tripartite Committee of the Maritime Labour Convention issued a statement last week that accurately frames the current situation:
“The global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is creating dire circumstances for the shipping industry and seafarers. Daily life in many countries has been heavily restricted, yet societies still need their supplies of food, medicine and everyday goods, and factories require materials and logistics to ship their products. This underlines the need for robust international supply chains and emphasises the critical importance of maritime trade to the global economy, which relies on shipping for 90 per cent of all goods.”
We have to focused on finding the solutions to the seafarers’ current contractual rights and the employers’ obligations for repatriation as per the Maritime Labour Convention, which is being threatened due to the current situations.
“Force Majeure” has been declared by Most of the countries which affected not only the Mariners but Shippers, Receivers, Shipowners and Charterers as well. Most of the seafarers are working on contract basis and the terms and conditions are subjected to the Maritime Labour Convention and respective Government and Flagship labour regulations. However, the increasing challenge with growing travel restrictions which are being imposed by most countries and the virtual collapse of scheduled air travel is preventing regular crew changes and repatriations around the world.
This has increased and created many social problems onboard vessels and frustrations among those who have been stranded. It can be identified as a significant threat to the safety of the vessel and lives on board.
Maianiting of the mental healthcare of the Seafarers those who have been stranded is one of the challenges facing by the ship owners as a result of prevailing travel restrictions. We have already come across the experience of these challenges.
Around the world, many countries have introduced lockdowns, limiting people’s day to day life activities and the ability to move freely and meet family and friends and restricted to their own homes. As a result of locking down, most companies have introduced temporary freezing of crew change due to the air travelling restriction and restrictions imposed on the Ship`s crew, resulting in the seafarers those on contractual terms for 4 months to 9 months, some cases 12 months for trainees, now been extended without seeing a definite date of repatriation, jeopardizing the Labour rules in the Maritime Labour Convention.
Usually, Crews are going ashore when the vessels are in port, now being banned by many ports resulting Seafearers to limit to their cabins. The seafarers well being is a vital factor for smooth operation onboard the vessels as well as safety of the lives at sea which being now threatened.
Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) convention was introduced after the famous Titanic disaster, 1912, and Marine Pollution (MARPOL) Convention was introduced after the accident of Motor Tanker Torrey Canyon, 1967 and many more conventions are being in force to be strictly complied by the seafarers and Shipping companies. The Maritime Labour Convention ( MLC), International Safety Management Code( ISM code), International Ship and Security and port facility Code( ISPS), and many other conventions are being combined with seafarers day to day life.
The seafarers are trained for their professions with all those regulations which an average Citizen may difficult to feel and understand.
The purpose of this article is to raise a voice with brother Seafarers for the Governments around the world to talk each other and put up the processes and procedures to ensure seafarers are recognized as key workers, also to exempt from all the travel restrictions, and to allow crew changes, so that the global shipping supply chain can be functioned without jeopardizing and to extend the gratitude to the seafarers those who are working round the clock to keep the supply chain alive.
As per the info gathered, The UK has already designated seafarers as key workers, alongside other vital supply chain and transport staff across all freight modes.
Most of the ports around the world have announced that the crew changes are not permitted till further notice, It was witnessed with recent our email correspondence with the agents in South Africa, China, Thailand etc.
While understanding the seriousness of the COVID 19 Pandemic and national and international regulations, this is the time to develop a rigorous risk assessment and find a methodology and drawn up action plans for crew changes that we, as employers and ship Managers, seafarers and implement to mitigate the risks of infection during the crew change with consulting the expertise of Health Authorities in Government and Private sector.
Note: The author of the article Capt. Nish Wijayaulathilaka, Fellow of the Nautical Institue(FNI), UK, the IMO Maritime Goodwill Ambassador (IMOGMA) appointed by the International Maritime Organisation(IMO), Council Member of the Nautical Institute, United Kingdom and the Secretary of the Sri Lanka Branch. He also a member of United Nations Association of Sri Lanka and Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Logistic and Transport (CMILT). He was graduated from Buckinghamshire New University for legal Education (LLB) with Second Class Honours and has a Master degree for Business Admirationc(MBA) from the University of Colombo. He can be contacted on nishww@hotmail.com for correspondence.
0 comments: