The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) has issued a stark warning that if temporary short cuts adopted in the industry during the Covid-19 pandemic continue or become permanent, then there will be a rise in shipping accidents and environmental disasters.
Joint release from the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), International Maritime Employers' Council (IMEC), International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), Singapore Shipping Association (SSA), Singapore Maritime Officers’ Union (SMOU) and Singapore Organisation of Seamen (SOS)
The repatriation of seven Myanmar crew members from a Korean-owned vessel via the United Kingdom shows that crew change is still possible during the crew change crisis, but it requires the determination of the seafarers’ employers, says Liverpool-based ITF Inspector Tommy Molloy.
The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) intervened to ensure a seafarer trapped working aboard a ship for more than 16 months finally got his ticket home.
Fifty-eight fatigued Egyptian seafarers are finally home with union support, after the company they were working for failed to repatriate them in the face of Tunisian government crew change restrictions.
On day one of Kenya’s new Covid-19 safe crew change guideline implementation, Betty Makena Mutugi, International Transport Workers’ Federation inspector (ITF) in Kenya, set her alarm for 4am to make sure she was at Mombasa’s port by 6am.
On 12 August, the International Transport Workers’ Federation-affiliated Marine Transport Workers’ Trade Union (MTWTU) of Ukraine helped 6 Ukrainian seafarers return home after they were duped by a notorious fake manning agent.
After recent success in helping the crew of the MV Contamines get off their vessel and be repatriated via Panama, the ITF has helped more seafarers get home to their families via the central American country.
Eight weeks in limbo, without pay and facing starvation, far from home in the Bay of São Sebastião, Brazil, 14 seafarers from Ukraine and Montenegro are finally back with their families thanks to the ITF. And they’re home with US$261,009 backpay in hand.
As the global cruise industry and seafarers’ unions near completion of the repatriation of almost 250,000 seafarers, the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) warns that there are challenging times ahead for the industry and its workforce.
