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Marking the International Day of the Seafarer, the UK Government has today (Thursday 25 June) announced it will host the first international summit on the impact of Covid-19 on crew changes next month, bringing together UN, political and business leaders from across the globe.
Led by UK Maritime Minister Kelly Tolhurst, the event will take place virtually and will be an opportunity to reflect on the impact of the pandemic on the global shipping industry, and what Governments and industry must do to protect the welfare of crew workers around the world. In a special address, the UN Secretary General of the International Maritime Organization Kitack Lim is expected to highlight the humanitarian need to safeguard workers across the seas and states’ duties to repatriate workers swiftly. Due to the unprecedented impact of Covid-19 on countries around the globe, with many shutting down borders, it is now estimated there are more than 1.2m seafarers at sea at any one time and currently 200,000 seafarers due to change over, including up to 2,000 from the UK.
Many crews have had their contracts extended but this is not a long-term solution, with many seafarers on board a ship for months despite having had no contact with coronavirus and posing no risk. To ensure their swift repatriation, and to safeguard workers’ mental health, the Maritime Minister wrote to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), the International Labour Organisation and the World Health Organisation at the start of the outbreak on 23 March pressing that all states follow the UK’s work in repatriating workers regardless of their nationality or employment. The UK has remained open for seafarers to come and either stay on vessels, go ashore, take shore leave or be repatriated, abiding by PHE requirements and social distancing.
This meeting, set up by the UK Maritime Minister, is a unique collaboration between the UK Government, UN through IMO, International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) and key international trade association to help all countries pull together to ensure that crew workers – regardless of nationality – are repatriated as swiftly as possible. In the UK, more than 7,000 cruise ship workers have been repatriated since the pandemic began. |