Over the last two years, the Covid crisis has tested the resilience of maritime supply chains and brought to light the vulnerability of the nearly 1.7 million seafarers these supply chains rely on. Often unremarked by the outside world, this workforce is essential to the continuity of maritime trade, which accounts for 90% of global trade flows, and to the shipping industry’s long and critical decarbonisation journey. It is therefore our duty to ensure the welfare of all seafarers.
Ensuring a healthy working environment
Although seafarers’ employment conditions are regulated by the ILO’s Maritime Labor Convention, these were severely undermined by COVID-19, with hundreds of thousands of shipping crew members stranded at sea due to sanitary measures, often beyond the 11-month limit period, without breaks on land and with limited internet access to connect with families. To prevent this from happening again and avoid a ‘Great Resignation’ of seafarers, and as a pre-condition for a successful carbon transition at sea, shipping industry participants must intensify dialogue with, as well as share transparent investments in, this essential workforce. The objective: to guarantee a fair, safe and healthy work environment for seafarers, in part through training to operate new equipment, handle alternative fuels and leverage new technologies against cyber threats.
Increasing transparency
With this objective in mind, a Code of Conduct for seafarers’ rights and welfare was published in October 2021, initiated by the Sustainable Shipping Initiative in partnership with the Institute for Human Rights and Business, the Rafto Foundation and the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. This Code sets out a clear and comprehensive set of principles on seafarers’ rights and welfare, building on existing best practices, and is accompanied by a detailed self-assessment tool, developed in collaboration with RightShip, the world’s largest third party maritime due diligence organisation. These tools do more than raise awareness: they are an important practical and initial step towards the ultimate goals of transparent reporting, robust grievance mechanisms and informed chartering decisions.
Annual, evidence-based progress reports will lay concrete foundations for better cooperation and improved remedies across the industry
Sébastien Landerretche, Head of Freight at Louis Dreyfus Company
Indeed, the Code of Conduct is expected to soon be part of the guidance for the commodity trading sector on implementing United Nations Guiding Principles on Business & Human Rights. It is also expected to help engage financial and government stakeholders to play their determining role with respect to seafarers’ rights, particularly in addressing inconsistent repatriation rules. Annual, evidence-based progress reports will lay concrete foundations for better cooperation and improved remedies across the industry.
A vast majority of shipowners treat their vessel crews responsibly, but in light of the systemic changes ahead, our industry must raise the bar in its efforts to consolidate standard practices - not indulging in moral incantations, but through determined, albeit gradual and iterative, contributions to the welfare of the workers “behind the scenes”, as a duty and prerequisite for the successful transformation of the shipping industry.
