The Irish Institute of Master Mariners is one of more than 800 organisations and companies that have signed the Neptune Declaration on Seafarer Wellbeing and Crew Change.
A recent update on the Neptune Declaration on Seafarer Wellbeing and Crew Change has been issued. It can be found below.
Dear Signatory to the Neptune Declaration,
The crew-change crisis has been ongoing for over fifteen months and the situation is getting worse, not better. The deterioration since last month is driven by the continued rise in Covid-19 cases and the spread of new variants in important seafaring nations. This has led to increased government restrictions in important crew change hubs, which has limited the opportunity to perform crew changes, especially in Asia.
This puts the seafarers, who are key in supporting global trade, in an unacceptable situation and this also poses a larger threat to the resilience of global supply chains. There is an urgent need to keep up our efforts to address the crew-change crisis.
This will require governments to allow crew-changes to take place and collaboration across the value chain, not least between shipowners and charterers, to ensure that necessary crew changes can be carried out, with the least impact possible in terms of cost and delays.
Importantly, resolving the crew change crisis will require seafarers to have access to vaccines and to be allowed to travel based on their vaccination status. While international seafarers have started to get access to vaccines, for instance in the US and in parts of Europe, the vast majority of seafarers, especially from developing countries are still unable to be vaccinated due to shortages and inadequate vaccination structures.
We have a responsibility as a global community and as the Neptune Declaration community to take action to protect the seafarers who play a crucial role in difficult circumstances, being far away from friends and family.
We have provided further updates on the Neptune Declaration action areas in the attached slides and we will continue to keep you updated on developments and on ways through which you can help support the next steps.
Thank you for all your good efforts and continuous support!
Kind Regards,
Graham Westgarth, V. Group
Jeremy Nixon, ONE-Line
