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Trade Union News

28 Feb 2024

Saudi Arabian Company Abandons Crew Across Multiple Vessels

(Photo: International Transport Workers’ Federation)

The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) said it has received many reports about withheld pay from individual seafarers working on eight Bahrain-registered vessels owned by Saudi Arabian company Hadi H Al Hamman Establishment. The company, which lists Saudi Aramco among its customers and was buying brand new ships as recently as 2018, has not paid seafarers for more than five months in some cases, the ITF said. One seafarer reported dangerously low levels of food


23 Jan 2024

Two Workers Killed at Gadani Shipbreaking Yard

© saintmichel85 / Adobe Stock

NGO Shipbreaking Platform reports that on January 16 two workers lost their lives after being crushed by a heavy iron plate during the dismantling of bulk carrier Chatherine Bright at Dewan Shipbreaking PVT Ldt in Gadani, Pakistan.The vessel was linked to Oman-based Maritime International Transport & Trading and flagged Panama when it was beached, says the Platform.The National Trade Union Federation (NTUF) accuses authorities of negligence as there continues to be a lack of compliance


02 Aug 2023

Izmail Seafarers’ Centre in Odesa Hit in Drone Attack

Images courtesy of ITF Seafarers Trust

The ITF Seafarers Trust has reported that the Izmail Seafarers' Centre was hit by a Russian drone attack in the early hours of August 2.The centre, previously funded by the ITF Seafarers Trust, has been housing families made homeless by bombing in other parts of the Odesa, Ukraine. Despite the significant damage done to the building, there were no casualties as resident families and staff working at the 24-hour facility had already taken shelter in the basement.Oleg Grigoryuk


08 May 2023

Thousands Rally in Australia Against Potential Submarine Base

(Photo: Craig Walton / Royal Australian Navy)

Thousands of people rallied on Saturday against a future nuclear-powered submarine base at Port Kembla in eastern Australia as part of the A$368 billion ($244.1 billion) AUKUS defense pact with the United States and Britain.The second-largest coal export port in New South Wales state is the Defense Department’s preferred site for a new east-coast submarine base, according to state broadcaster ABC.Protesters carrying trade union banners and flags marched down the main street to voice their opposition to a base in the town of around 5


06 Feb 2023

Italian Union Files Legal Complaint Against Snam's LNG Terminal

© bikemp / Adobe Stock

The Italian trade union USB filed a legal complaint against a plan by gas grid operator Snam to set up a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in the Tuscan port of Piombino, it said in a press release on Friday.USB alleged Snam had committed serious "environmental crimes" while performing works to build the terminal.USB criticised in the statement the choice to set up the terminal in an area already polluted by an old steel plant, saying regasification processes would increase


19 Oct 2022

Transnet Agrees Wage Deal with Majority Labor Union

© petert2 / Adobe Stock

South African state-owned logistics firm Transnet said on Monday it had agreed a three-year wage deal with the union representing the majority of its workers, ending a two-week strike that had hit commodities exports and piled up millions in losses."Transnet and the company's majority union United Transport and Allied Trade Union (UNTU) reached a three-year wage agreement today," it said in a statement, adding the deal would bring most of its employees back to work.UNTU members


20 Sep 2022

Liverpool Dockworkers Launch Two-week Strike Over Pay Dispute

© Alan / Adobe Stock

Over 500 dockworkers at the Port of Liverpool, one of Britain's largest container ports, have launched a two-week strike over pay, the Unite trade union said on Tuesday, adding to a wave of industrial unrest caused by soaring inflation.The Liverpool strike from Sept. 19 to Oct. 3, which was announced earlier this month, will overlap a second walkout by workers at Felixstowe, Britain's top container port, which starts on Sept. 27.More than 560 port operatives and maintenance engineers


22 Jun 2022

Union Calls 24-hour Warning Strike in German Ports

© Marco2811 / Adobe Stock

German trade union ver.di called on several thousand employees at German ports to take part in a 24-hour warning strike from Thursday morning, potentially further increasing difficulties at already strained ports.Workers in Emden, Bremerhaven, Bremen, Brake, Wihelmshaven and Hamburg were called on to take part, after a fourth round of wage negotiations fell through.

18 Mar 2022

Protesters Gather at UK Ports After P&O Ferries Sacks 800 Crew Members

© Image'in / Adobe Stock

Trade unions protested at British ferry ports on Friday after Dubai-owned P&O Ferries abruptly sacked 800 workers via a video message, drawing widespread condemnation and raising the prospect of disruption to key tourist and goods routes.P&O, which is owned by Dubai ports firm DP World, is recovering from a difficult two years when COVID-19 prevented tourists from travelling on its routes between Britain, France, Ireland and elsewhere in northern Europe.P&O said on Thursday it had lost 100 million pounds ($131 million) in the last year and that without changes its business was not sustainable.

06 Oct 2021

Maritime Trade Union Signs on Sea Machines' Autonomous Voyage Project

Deck officers Bridget Quinn and Adam Szloch remotely command the autonomous NELLIE BLY in Denmark from Sea Machines’ Boston control room. The SM300 provides the remote commanders with full shore-to-vessel connectivity and control and includes an active chart environment with live augmented data overlays, state of vessel, situational awareness and environmental data, as well as real-time, vessel-born audio and video from many streaming cameras. (Photo: Sea Machines)

U.S. Coast Guard licensed officers in Boston are commanding an autonomous workboat on a voyage around Denmark.The American Maritime Officers (AMO) trade union has entered into a labor agreement with autonomous command and control systems developer Sea Machines Robotics for the project, which will see AMO-represented merchant mariners support Sea Machines’ first-of-its-kind 1,000 NM autonomous journey.The voyage, which Sea Machines is calling "The Machine Odyssey", aims to prove the world’s waterways are primed and ready for long-range autonomous vessel operations


28 Aug 2020

World's First: Drone Brings Cargo to Offshore Production Platform

Image by Ole JĂžrgen Bratland/Equinor

Norwegian oil company Equinor has successfully sent a drone carrying a 3D-printed cargo from shore to an offshore production platform in the North Sea in what the company says is a world's first.In a flight spanning around 80 kilometers from the Mongstad base onshore to the Troll field in the North Sea offshore Norway, the drone carried a 3D-printed part for the lifeboat system. The flight took one hour, at an altitude of approx. 5000 feet, or 1524 meters."The flight was a test


11 Jan 2019

Exxon Ships Have Not Returned to Disputed Area off Guyana

© Zerophoto / Adobe Stock

Seismic research vessels hired by Exxon Mobil to explore for oil off Guyana's coast have not returned to the site of a December incident with Venezuela's navy, but they may in the future, Guyana's foreign minister said on Thursday.Guyana, with no history of oil production, has become the focus of intense interest since Exxon announced the discovery of over 5 billion barrels of oil and gas off its shores. That has reignited a century-old territorial dispute with neighboring Venezuela.

20 Jun 2018

Shippers Push to Undermine EU Ship Recycling Regulation

The EU member states’ experts on ship recycling met in Brussels to discuss the latest developments, six months ahead of the application of the 2013 Ship Recycling Regulation. With the recent decision by the Chinese government to stop the import of end-of-life ships for scrapping, the shipping industry is quick to lament that there will not be enough recycling capacity and that there will be too few options for them under the EU List of approved recycling facilities. The industry claims that the standard set by the EU must be lowered so that beaching yards can be approved. As much as it is a pity that the Chinese yards who have already made efforts to be included on the List may now no longer be receiving EU-flagged ships for recycling


04 May 2018

South Asian Shipbreaking Workers Assert Rights

In Chittagong, Bangladesh, on the International Labour Day of 1 May, the Platform member organisation YPSA brought together shipbreaking workers for a demonstration to claim their right for a healthy and safe workplace. OSHE, another Platform member, and YPSA also organised demonstrations on the World Day for Health at Work, on 28 April. Concerns related to especially the vulnerability of young workers in hazardous occupations such as shipbreaking were raised, and the call for safe working conditions was joined by prominent trade union representatives. These events have taken place at a time when the shipbreaking industry has seen a high number of accidents occurring in the yards in the first quarter of this year, with already 10 workers who have lost their lives.

25 Mar 2018

STX Shipbuilding Stages Strike

The trade union workers of South Korea's STX Offshore & Shipbuilding Co. said Sunday they will stage a strike starting this week to protest the company's self-rescue plan, reports Yonhap. According to Korean media reports, the union would organize the strike action this week to express its disagreement with the company's planned restructuring program as it does not guarantee workers’ jobs. Starting today (Monday) 8:00 a.m., the union said 700 workers will walk out and called on the company to scrap the planned layoff of workers. "We will carry out a full strike for the time being, and hold protests and rallies to have the people become aware of unfairness surrounding the planned layoff," a union official said.

03 Jan 2018

UK Shipping Minister Confirms CEC Review

Nautilus International has welcomed confirmation from shipping minister John Hayes that the government has agreed to the Union’s calls for a review of the UK’s system for issuing Certificates of Equivalent Competency (CECs). Nautilus is a trade union and professional organisation representing more than 22,000 maritime professionals in the UK, Netherlands and Switzerland. In a letter to the Union, the minister said he had asked Sir Alan Massey, head of the Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA), to undertake a review of the way in which CECs are given to foreign officers seeking work on UK-flagged ships. Sir Alan has told Nautilus that the review will be treated as ‘a matter of priority’ and the MCA will work with the Union, other social partners and industry experts to progress it.

07 Dec 2017

NGOs, Unions Denounce Certification Issued to PHP Yard by RINA

In October, the PHP Family (Peace Happiness and Prosperity) shipbreaking yard received a Statement of Compliance with the Hong Kong Convention by the Italian classification society RINA. Trade unions in Bangladesh, as well as the Platform’s member Bangladesh Institute for Labour Studies (BILS), are concerned that such a labelling sets a dangerous precedent for the further green-washing of the Chittagong beaching yards. Workers and the environment are not protected as long as ships are broken on the beach, and as long as fundamental labour rights and proper infrastructure are not secured. PHP is run by a renowned business family in Chittagong, who also runs activities in the steel re-rolling and construction industries, and owns TV channels.

12 Oct 2017

Orest Sychenikov, First Head of Novorossiysk Shipping Company, Passed Away

It is with great sadness that the Sovcomflot management and team must announce a monumental loss to the Russian shipping community. On 9 October 2017, Orest Sychenikov, first Head of Novorossiysk Shipping Company, passed away at the age of 95. On 9 October 2017, we lost a highly educated man, a talented leader who made a massive contribution to the strengthening and development of Russian maritime navigation. Orest Sychenikov was born on 28 June 1922. In 1941, he was called up to the Red Army to fight in the Second World War, during which was seriously wounded in 1943. Following demobilization in September 1945, Orest was accepted into the Department of Marine Engineering at the Odessa Institute of Marine Fleet Engineers.

15 Jun 2017

Brazil Criticized for Dumping Toxic Ships in South Asia

NGOs and trade unions in Brazil have criticized the state-run Petrobras’ end-of-life fleet management by dumping toxic ships on South Asian beaches. The Brazilian Confederação Nacional dos Trabalhadores em Transportes Aquaviários e Aéreos, na Pesca e nos Portos (CONTTMAF) trade union federation and its member SINDMAR (Sindicato Nacional dos Oficiais da Marinha Mercante) have recently criticized the shipbreaking practices of Transpetro, the oil and gas transportation subsidiary of the Brazilian petroleum corporation Petrobras, majority-owned by the State. In the last five years, more than twenty vessels owned by the oil and gas giant have been dismantled on the beaches of India and Pakistan, where shipbreaking activities endanger both workers and the environment.

18 May 2017

Pak Shipbreaking Yards in Dire State

The conditions at the shipbreaking yards in Pakistan are extremely dire, says the annual report by NGO Shipbreaking Platform. As in India and Bangladesh, the yards in Gadani operate directly on the beach without any impermeable and drained working areas protecti ng the sea and sand from pollution. As there is no infrastructure to deal with hazardous wastes in Gadani, dangerous and polluti ng substances such as asbestos, PCBs and residue oils are simply dumped behind the shipbreaking area. Workers’ health and safety are blatantly ignored in Gadani, and trade unions, such as the Industriall-affiliated Pakistan National Trade Union Federati on (NTUF), have voiced strong concerns related to systematic breaches of basic labour rights.

24 Dec 2016

UK to Create Shipping Jobs through New SMarT+

The UK shipping industry will create thousands of jobs for young people if Government increases funding for seafarer training, the UK Chamber of Shipping has said. The industry trains around 800 new cadets each year, but this could increase to 1200 under a new industry proposal that would see shipowners commit to employing cadets after their training is completed. Major employers including Shell and Carnival have already committed to the scheme. The scheme, documented in a business case presented to the Department for Transport and developed by the UK Chamber of Shipping, Merchant Navy Training Board and Nautilus International, calls for the Government to double seafarer training funding from £15m to £30m.

04 Nov 2016

Three Maritime Leaders Receive United Seamen's Awards

Arthur E. Imperatore, Founder and President of New York Waterways; Captain Donald Marcus, International President of the International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots; and Christopher Wiernicki, Chairman, President and CEO of the American Bureau of Shipping, were recipients of the maritime industry's most prestigious Admiral of the Ocean Sea awards presented at the 47th annual United Seamen's Service gala industry dinner and dance October 28, 2016. The event was held at the at the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel, New York City. Recognition was also given to American seafarers for specific acts of bravery and heroism while at sea. (See separate news release).

13 Nov 2016

Boskalis Profits Zoom as Expected

Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. (Boskalis) closed the third quarter of 2016 in line with expectations. Both revenue and operating profit were higher than the average seen in the first two quarters of the year. The increase was wholly attributable to the contribution from the offshore activities acquired from VolkerWessels, which are consolidated with effect from the third quarter. Adjusted for these activities there was a slight decline in revenue and operating profit compared to the average seen in the first two quarters of the year. Adjusted for acquisitions there was a substantial decline in revenue and operating profit compared to the third quarter of last year, in line with expectations.