Maritime industry companies and organisations have united to produce and sign the Neptune Declaration, a document that seeks to protect seafarers and put pressure on governments around the world to find a solution to the thousands of crew stranded on ships.
[s2If is_user_logged_in()]Container lines, including COSCO Shipping, MSC, CMA CGM, ONE, Maersk Line, Hapag-Lloyd and Zim, are all part of a list of more than 300 maritime organisations who have come together to support seafarers, many of whom have been unable to go home in more than a year. In a disparate list of maritime bodies, the list includes labour unions, class societies and industry organisations such as the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) and Container Shipping Supporting Seafarers (CSSS).
ICS secretary-general Guy Platten recently wrote, “Governments haven’t lived up to their responsibilities, as codified in international law: to do right by the seafarers who keep their countries supplied. Our crews are in limbo. This is not acceptable.”
The Neptune Declaration argues that the “unprecedented crew change crisis” has led to hundreds of thousands of seafarers stranded on ships, beyond the expiry of their contracts.
“Despite significant efforts by international organisations, governments, industry associations, labour unions, NGOs and individual companies including the adoption on 1 December 2020 by the UN General Assembly of a resolution on international cooperation to address challenges faced by seafarers as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic to support global supply chains, the issue is still far from resolved,” reads the declaration.
In claims that the treatment of seafarers, who are frontline key workers, the Neptune Declaration calls for governments to implement four critical changes to the way that governments around the world treat crew. First and foremost crew must be declared key workers and offered a vaccine for their own safety and the safety of others. Additionally, crew change protocols must be delivered, greater co-operation between vessel operators and charterers, and finally air transport connections between key maritime hubs for crew must be established and sustained.
Effectively, the Neptune Declaration commits the signatories to take action to resolve the crew change crisis, including working across the supply chain with all stakeholders to resolve the situation. Furthermore, the signatories agree to learn from the current crisis to “build more resilient supply chains” in the future.
Philip Eastell, the founder of CSSS told Container News, that his members strongly support the declaration, which is a, “Call to action internationally to address the ongoing crew change crisis effecting over 400,000 seafarers both at sea and on land. The Declaration aims to ensure action is now taken that will urgently facilitate crew change and help protect the health and wellbeing of all seafarers.”
The Neptune Declaration calls on governments to implement the following:
- Recognise seafarers as key workers with priority access to Covid-19 vaccines
Seafarers should be recognised as key workers by all governments in line with the UN General Assembly resolution adopted on 1 December 2020 and the transition of seafarers across borders should be facilitated based on internationally agreed, high-quality health protocols.
Governments and other stakeholders should work together with the maritime industry to ensure that seafarers, irrespective of their nationality, get priority access to Covid-19 vaccines alongside other key workers and health care professionals in recognition of their critical role in global supply chains and trade.
This should include developing protocols that ensure vaccinations are correctly certified and effectively administered to seafarers as well as establishing a standardised format for health passes that contain tamper proof information about vaccination and testing status to facilitate crew changes. And, finally, air connections b
- Implement gold standard health protocols based on existing best practice
The maritime industry and governments should implement The Recommended Framework of Protocols for ensuring safe ship crew changes and travel during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic which has been recognised by the International Maritime Organization.
To minimise the risk of Covid-19, to build trust that crew changes can be carried out in a safe manner, and to ensure that the measures taken can be universally accepted, the implementation of the Framework of Protocols should be based on the highest practicable standards. The STAR Crew Change Protocols4, which are based on existing best practice, are thus recommended for industry-wide adoption.
- Increase collaboration between operators and charterers
Facilitating crew changes based on high-quality health protocols is a shared responsibility which will create benefits for all by minimizing the risk of Covid-19 spread on vessels, minimizing the risk of disruptions to global supply chains, while contributing to maritime safety and the wellbeing of seafarers.
Ship owners and charterers should share relevant information transparently and collaborate to ensure that necessary crew changes can be carried out with the least impact possible in terms of cost and delays. The owner should provide the charterer with as much notice as possible on intended crew changes, while the charterer should make all reasonable efforts to accommodate crew changes including when the vessel has to make a reasonable deviation.
No charter contracts should contain clauses preventing necessary crew changes from being carried out, as the aggregate effect of such clauses could be a serious obstacle to the safe operation of maritime trade and the protection of the wellbeing and rights of seafarers.
By implementing high-quality health protocols, ship owners can reduce the risk of trade disruption due to Covid-19, which also creates benefits to charterers. These benefits should be reflected in chartering decisions to create incentives for shipowners to implement high-quality health protocols and be transparent about actions taken as well as costs incurred.
- Ensure air connectivity between key maritime hubs for seafarers
The aviation industry should work together with the maritime industry to ensure that airlift capacity is established between major crew changing hubs and seafaring nations.
Additionally, the aviation and maritime industries as well as governments – involving all relevant ministries and agencies – should work together to establish a universally accepted and harmonized framework of standards for the validation of trusted health data for seafarers to facilitate border crossing and ensure the long-term resilience of air connectivity.[/s2If]
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