Search results

Covid-19 restrictions are storing up trouble for seafarers and global supply chains

Joint statement from the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) and the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF)

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) Special Tripartite Committee of the Maritime Labour Convention issued a statement last week that accurately frames the current situation:

A campaign from the Marine Transport Workers’ Trade Union of Ukraine (MTWTU), supported by the ITF and the International Maritime Employers’ Council (IMEC), is highlighting the key role of maritime workers to keep the world supplied with essentials during the Covid-19 crisis.

Covid-19 has had a swift and brutal impact on the cruise industry and on seafarers working in the industry. The media has focused mainly on the passengers, while the plight of the seafarers has mostly gone unnoticed and underreported.

The latest, special ITF podcast looking at the Covid-19 crisis has heard about the particular effects on working women.

The crew member showed symptoms of having suffered a stroke while the vessel was in international waters 225 kilometres from the island of Sumatra.

Despite Covid-19 restrictions, the ITF has assisted abandoned crews in Sudan and Lebanon for the first time and delivered humanitarian assistance as the number of cases like this in the region increases.

Three Greek seafarers and 22 of their shipmates on two bulk carriers at anchor in the Port of Djibouti are among a rising tide of crew abandoned around the world at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.