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The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) is asking governments to put seafarers and frontline maritime workers at the head of the vaccine queue to avoid another crew change crisis
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Priority access to vaccines for all seafarers and clear ‘vaccine passport’ protocols are vital to maintaining global trade, ICS stressed
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The spread of new variants of COVID-19 in Brazil, South Africa and the UK is contributing to stricter crew change restrictions globally
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The shipping industry fears that hundreds of thousands of seafarers could become the collateral damage of government inaction and a wider global retrenchment around ease of travel
Amidst renewed travel restrictions in reaction to new COVID-19 mutations, the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) called on governments to put seafarers and frontline maritime shore workers at the head of the vaccine queue.
ICS in a January 19 statement demanded that governments recognize the vital role of seafarers in the global supply chain and designate them as key workers with vaccination priority to avoid a repeat of the 2020 “crew change crisis.”
It said healthy, vaccinated seafarers are critical in supplying nations with vital goods in 2021, including medical supplies such as syringes and the personal protective equipment required as part of the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines.
But the organization noted that COVID-19 related restrictions have forced hundreds of thousands of workers to overrun their contracts, raising concerns over ship safety, crew fatigue and access to healthcare.
“Seafarers are currently being severely impacted by crew change crisis, with some approaching two years stuck at sea. With limited support from national governments, there is real concern that, under new restrictions, this number will rapidly increase rather than reduce.”
ICS warned that the spread of new variants of COVID-19 in Brazil, South Africa and the UK is contributing to stricter crew change restrictions globally.
The Philippines, for example, has expanded its temporary crew change ban to 35 countries, barring foreign seafarers from disembarking at Philippine ports. The UK is banning travelers from South America and the US has also toughened its entry requirements.
“This is part of a wider global retrenchment around ease of travel, which the shipping industry fears could result in hundreds of thousands of seafarers becoming the collateral damage of government inaction,” the statement said.
ICS, which represents more than 80% of global shipowners, demanded that governments around the world take their duties to seafarers seriously and avoid a repeat of the mistakes of 2020.
The International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) high-level committee of legal experts found last year that governments had breached seafarers’ rights and failed to comply with several provisions of the Maritime Labour Convention during the COVID-19 pandemic.
To guarantee the safety of its labor force, the shipping industry is calling on the wider supply chain to take action and support seafarers immediately.
“The average ship has a mix of at least three nationalities on board, and sometimes as many as thirty. This fact makes the possibility of vaccinating by nationality, which is the current model of vaccine distribution challenging. Priority access to vaccines for all seafarers, and clear vaccine passport protocols in line with World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations, is seen as vital to the maintenance of global trade,” said ICS.
Prior to the ILO’s ruling in December 2020, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution that calls for all countries around the world to designate seafarers as key workers. Pope Francis also voiced his concern for the 400,000 stranded seafarers by urging governments to do all they can to end the crew change crisis.
“While more than 40 countries have so far recognised seafarers as key workers, the majority of seafaring nations have not, creating growing demand from within industry for new solutions to the issue of vaccine distribution, before the humanitarian crisis facing seafarers gets any worse,” ICS said.
Guy Platten, secretary general of the ICS, said: “If we want to maintain global trade, seafarers must not be put to the back of the vaccine queue. Governments will not be able to inject their citizens without the shipping industry or, most importantly, our seafarers.”
Photo by Hakan Nural on Unsplash
