International Labor Organization News

A new table published by the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) indicates continuing positive performance by the vast majority of the maritime industry's flag states.Merchant ships are required to register under a flag state, which determines the vessel's nationality and gives jurisdiction under which to operate. Flag states have the authority and responsibility to enforce regulations over vessels registered under their flag, including those relating to inspection, certification…

Professor Max Mejia has been named as the next president of the World Maritime University (WMU) in Malmö, Sweden.Selected following a competitive selection process, Mejia—the university's current PhD program director and associate academic dean— will succeed Dr. Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry, whose term as WMU president will expire on June 29, 2023.WMU was founded by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in 1983, providing postgraduate maritime and ocean education, research and professional training.

The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) welcomed the China Shipowners’ Association (CSA) as a Full Member from January 1, 2023. The CSA will join the ICS Board, which oversees the policy positions ICS presents on behalf of shipowners’ worldwide with the shipping industry’s global regulators, including the UN International Maritime Organization and the International Labor Organization. Established in 1993, the China Shipowner’s Association (CSA) is a voluntary trade organisation whose members are owners…

The world’s seafarers are set to see their monthly minimum wages rise incrementally over the course of the next three years.The change is the result of a a resolution agreed by a subcommittee of the the International Labor Organization's (ILO) Joint Maritime Commission (JMC).The meeting agreed to raise the ILO minimum basic wage for an able seafarer to US$658 as of January 1, 2023. The rate will be increased to US$666 as of January 1, 2024 and to US$673 as of January 1, 2025.The subcommittee also agreed that the figure of US $673 as of March 1…

Adm. Linda L. Fagan has been confirmed as the 27th Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, clearing way for her to be the first woman top officer in one of the military services. The Senate on Wednesday approved Fagan’s promotion, along with those of five other senior Coast Guard officers, by unanimous consent.Nominated for the role by President Joe Biden in April, Fagan will succeed Adm. Karl Schultz as head of the Coast Guard. Schultz, who has been Coast Guard Commandant since 2018, will retire at the end of this month.

Four UN organizations have called for continued global collaboration to address the crew change crisis that at times during the COVID-19 pandemic has left more than 400,000 seafarers stranded at sea.In a joint statement issued on February 28, the International Labor Organization (ILO), the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the World Health Organization (WHO) say new challenges and variants of concern like Omicron threaten to worsen the plight of the world’s seafarers…

The Cyprus Shipping Deputy Ministry (SDM) has issued a circular outlining  plans to provide COVID-19 vaccinations to all seafarers on Cyprus-flagged and Cyprus-managed vessels as the island nation also explores the potential to become a vaccination hub for all visiting seafarers.Vaccines will be administered by qualified medical staff to all seafarers working on board Cyprus-flagged ships, irrespective of the location of the vessel, and certificates provided, as stipulated in the circular issued Friday, on International Day of the Seafarer.

Unite Nations organizations this week issued a joint call for the world's seafarers to be prioritized for COVID-19 vaccination, stressing their key role in supporting global trade.The heads of five UN organizations have called for maritime and air transport workers to be prioritized for COVID-19 vaccination.Seafarers and aircrew are key workers, required to travel across borders, which may—though contrary to WHO recommendations—result in the need for them to present proof of a COVID-19 vaccination as a condition for entry in some countries.

Panama is urging the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to step in to help stranded seafarers and shipowners wrapped up in a trade dispute between China and Australia.Some 74 vessels loaded with Australian coal and more than 1,500 mariners are currently idled in Chinese ports and waters after Beijing last year placed an unofficial ban on imports from Australia, reportedly in retaliation for Canberra's call for an international probe of the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.

The head of the United Nations' shipping agency has spoken out against “no crew change” clauses in charterparties, stating such clauses exacerbate the dire situation of stranded seafarers and undermine the efforts undertaken to resolve the ongoing crew change crisis.So-called “no crew change” clauses, which are demanded by certain charterers, state that no crew changes can occur whilst the charterer’s cargo is onboard – hence not allowing the ship to deviate to ports where crew changes could take place.

Fishing vessels with crews of forced laborers behave in systematically different ways to the rest of the global fleet, according to a study purporting to be the first to remotely identify vessels potentially engaged in modern slavery.Using satellite data, machine learning and on-the-ground expertise from human rights practitioners, U.S. researchers found up to 26% of about 16,000 industrial fishing vessels analyzed were at high risk of using forced labor.As many as 100,000 people are estimated to work on these high-risk vessels, many of whom are potential victims of forced labor.

Due to a confluence of factors, COVID-19 has adversely impacted merchant mariners more than virtually any other profession. The merchant marine is an international profession from a wide variety of countries, so there is no one nation standing up to represent them.The ships on which they sail are registered in numerous nations, heavily weighted toward small countries with limited influence on the world stage. The ports at which the vessels call tend to be more concerned about the health of the local community than the welfare of seafarers…

Hundreds of thousands of seafarers around the world are stranded at sea due to coronavirus travel restrictions, unable to go home or get medical care, the International Labor Organization (ILO) said on Tuesday, calling on nations to address their plight.Many shipping and transport workers have been at sea as long as 17 months or longer, as COVID-19-related restrictions make it almost impossible to rotate crews, the United Nations' labor agency said.The ILO adopted a resolution asking nations to take action by providing medical care to seafarers in need…

Australian maritime officials have set an end date for interim arrangements permitting seafarers to serve longer than 11 months aboard ships amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.Under the International Labor Organization’s Maritime Labor Convention (MLC) the normal maximum period that a seafarer can serve aboard a vessel without leave is 11 months.Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) general manager of operations, Allan Schwartz, said that while flexibility on the part of regulators was necessary when the COVID-19 pandemic began…

The number of mariners stranded on ships at sea is steadily rising as the crew change crisis brought on by the coronavirus pandemic continues with no end in sight.Travel and transit restrictions in place due to COVID-19 have severely impacted seafarers, the number of crew members whose contracts have been extended by several months has continued to rise despite multiple pleas to governments to designate them as essential key workers and to facilitate their travel.According to the International Maritime Organization (IMO)…

Shipbreaking is among the most dangerous jobs in the world, according to the International Labor Organization. This is the process of breaking up huge old ships into spare parts. It almost always happens in developing countries and comes with an unacceptably high level of fatalities, injuries and work-related diseases.In November 2016, 17 people were killed in a series of explosions on an oil tanker at a shipbreaking yard in Gadani, Pakistan. In 2019 alone, it was reported that 26 shipbreakers died in Bangladesh.

A dozen countries have have committed to facilitate crew changes and achieve key worker designation for seafarers, following a virtual ministerial summit hosted by the U.K. government on Thursday, marking progress to help resolve a growing crisis facing the maritime industry, and enable hundreds of thousands of stranded seafarers to go home or join ships.“The inability of ship operators worldwide to conduct ship’s crew changes is the single most pressing maritime operational challenge to the safe and efficient movement of global trade…

Engineering X – an international collaboration founded by the Royal Academy of Engineering and Lloyd’s Register Foundation – has awarded nearly £1 million ($1.2 million) in grants to six projects in the U.K. and overseas aimed at tackling the complex social, environmental and engineering challenges of decommissioning ships and offshore structures.From training to improve worker safety in ship recycling facilities in Bangladesh, to assessing the risks of structural failure of decommissioned offshore structures…

The Bahamas Maritime Authority (BMA) announces the appointment of Captain Dwain E. Hutchinson as its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer. Captain Hutchinson succeeds Commodore Davy F. Rolle, who stepped down as Director last year.Captain Hutchinson is a proud Bahamian from Nassau, New Providence island, where he completed his tertiary education before commencing his maritime studies in Scotland at Glasgow College of Nautical Studies. Qualified with a UK Master Mariner (Unlimited) STCW Certificate of Competency…

Responding to changing regulations the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) has launched of the third edition of its essential Guidelines on the Application of the ILO Maritime Labor Convention, the only fully up to date guide to the Maritime Labor Convention (MLC) for all involved with the employment of seafarers.Focused on today’s MLC, the publication covers all amendments made to the Convention since it entered into force in 2013. It also contains practical advice, information and key learnings from industry bodies at the heart of the shipping community.Natalie Shaw…

Commercial fishing is one of the world's most dangerous professions yet the internationally-binding instrument which specifically addresses fishing vessel safety, the Cape Town Agreement, is not yet in force – because it needs more countries to ratify it.That's why International Maritime Organization (IMO)  has teamed up with the Pew Charitable Trust, an NGO, to organise a series of seminars for government officials and industry representatives in key developing countries, to raise awareness of the Cape Town Agreement and the benefits of ratifying it.A note from the UN-agency said that these benefits include fewer accidents, fewer lives lost and a more effective infrastructure for monitoring and targeting illegal…

To say that Dr. Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry is passionate about all matters surrounding maritime and seafarers is a bit of an understatement. Prior to taking the helm as president of the World Maritime University (WMU) two years ago, she served as the Director of the International Labor Standards Department of the International Labor Office (ILO) in Geneva, Switzerland, responsible for developing the Maritime Labor Convention, 2006. Maritime Reporter & Engineering News was at WMU…

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd has announced that its group's core dry-cargo ship management company, MOL Ship Management Co., Ltd. has jointly developed with maritime software developer Spectral Technologies, Inc. a new onboard management software program called "WRH5" used to manage crews' work and rest hours. MOLSHIP will introduce "WRH5" on its managed vessels. In addition, Nippon Kaiji Kyokai  issued a statement of fact that "WRH5"'s support functions are in conformity with international labor regulations. - Conformity with MLC2006 and the Japanese Mariners Law. "WRH5" supports the latest provisions of MLC-Maritime Labor Convention, 2006, of the International Labor Organization (ILO), and Japanese Mariners Law. -Meticulously formulate onboard working plans.