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05 April 2025 - Year XXIX
Independent journal on economy and transport policy
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Those of the sea? They are the last ones between the workers
Today the ships sound the sirens in order to carry the problem to take it in turns of the crews to the attention of the institutions, that other jolt would need very
July 8, 2020

If you are employee of a company you must not have difficulty to immedesimarvi. Imagined that the measures of lockdown in order containing the coronavirus pandemic have forced to you to remain at home in office rather than and to remain day and night to you. Besides the little that, for particular contingencies as a difficult familiar situation, compulsory prefer the hours to those domestic servants, the others would not see the hour to be able themselves to raise the chair and to leave the job. Imagined that, when by now the slackening of the restrictions allows with all the return to a normal life, you are only the obliged ones to become in office. Night and day. For days, that they become weeks.

How much you would resist? You would not last a day, perhaps two. Then the protest, the rebellion. You would telephone to the unions and newspapers. Then strike. As soon as before you go mad. Fortunately the liberal democracies of the West do not have more need than martyrs. Or yes?

Because in reality you are not segregated in office, but at home, and you can return to normality as soon as the authorities have marked the all-clear. Others have instead not been able it to make. Others that, to difference yours (and ours), that feeling of isolation and marginalization have not only lived it in the limited period of the emergenziale block, but have experienced it very before and continue to put up with it, even from when they have begun to work. Those wretches are the marine ones.

They were on the ships before it began the lockdown, than left to leopard spot then has been extended to the great part of the nations. They were on the ships, continuing to work, when you were off without being able to work or making it from remote. They are still on the ships when we and you, by now for a long time, are returned to the normal life. They are on board and they cannot even disembark not even in order not to go for a walk. To return at home of it is not spoken neither. They are on board practically illegally, since the employment contract, than for it is called contracted of enlistment (and already this would have to say very), is not respected being some artatamente been extended the duration.

Not to case the union International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), doing again itself to reliefs of the International Labour Organization (ILO), in recent days, referring to the marine ones, has observed that to force vulnerable workers with little possibilities of alternatives to put up with job conditions that put them to risk and not to respect their rights can constitute a form of forced job and that the abuse of this vulnerability in order to extend theirs contracts forcing them to remain until 17 months in sea, with the their precarious legal situation and to the unavoidable dependency from their employers, could give origin to an analogous situation to the draft of human beings to fine of the exploitation of the labor.

These workers of the sea very rarely protest. Never they almost rebel themselves. If they telephone to the unions or newspapers as ours he is because they do not have job and they ask aid. They strike much little. And they make it that is those which can make it, those who are boarded on ships engaged on routes skipper or short beam. Those on board of the oceanic ships that cross the world simply cannot make it. They cannot because that of the marine ones that crosses the globe is a much fragmented world, constituted from workers who generally come from nations in which the trade-union protections they are minimal and that they have least opportunities to join in order to reach the critical mass necessary in order to start actions of protest.

To these manifestations us the unions think. But if the representatives of the workers of the sea have succeeded in proclaiming strikes that involve marine that navigates little away from home, almost no possibility of resolution would have strikes also indetti from international labor organizations with the attempt to safeguard the rights of the globetrotters of the seas. In fact, these last ones I lack think to us to proclaim them.

In these weeks, in which the marine one against his will it is profitable enslaved and celebrated as hero, neither the ITF neither the homologous European union ETF have announced the resource to a strike that, in spite of the dramatic situation, would be resolved in a flask.

Today to the hours the 12,00 in the ports of the world ships will sound their sirens in order to speed up the governments to allow the change of the crews of the ships, in order to afford to those on board to return at home and those for a long time waiting for the boarding of being able to get aboard. The initiative is of the shipowning association International Chamber of Shipping (ICS). Praiseworthy the attempt, but a little little in order to speed up the respect of the rights of people who are not withheld a day in more of the due to their writing desk, but that from weeks they are hostage of their ships. A little little by employers that, fortunately only in the nations of the liberal democracies, can be confronted with workers (recruited) that practically they cannot make use of the strike right.

Certainly the international and national ICS and the other shipowning organizations have made remarkable pressures on the authorities in order to speed up answers to the problem. Indeed, the answers have already supplied them the same industry of the shipping that it has offered to the institutions a well and truly ready procedure for the changes of the crews that are approved of by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the agency of the United Nations that takes care of the marine field.

In Italy, nation that traditionally is refolded on if same and it does not look beyond the national borders unless someone beyond border does not interfere of the facts ours, the problem does not seem to graze to us, in spite of the sollicitations to face it coming from the shipowning associations Confitarma and Assarmatori and from the unions. To governmental, ministerial, regional and local level it has been limited us up to now to take some provision because the marine services continued to serve the requirements of the country. Some effort in order to allow with the ferries and the ships engaged in the connections with the islands to work. No engagement so that the rights of workers employed on the oceanic ships are respected that enliven the Italian commerce with foreign country.

In the light of this, the lucky people who work on board of ships that navigate between Italian ports or little more in the future they can, however with difficulty, to see respected their rights, while the wretches that are already a lot if they know in which part of the world are found to navigate do not have the minimal idea of when their detainment ends. If this is unacceptable for protected employees who sit to a writing desk, he is still more inadmissible for vulnerable workers today more than ever dispersed offshore.

It is for that the greater world-wide companies of navigation, whose ships fly flags of all the types between which those of born merchant navies with the scope to only afford to elude landing charges and trade-union, they would have to perhaps make more in order to defend their workers without protections. To sound the sirens? Not enough.

Why, then, not to stop the ships? Very rarely, indeed almost never the shipowners are rerun to this form of abstention from the job. "Naval blockades" are put into effect are in exceptional cases in order to defend the direct interests of their field. For the shipowning large groups today to stop also for a single day the ships it wants to say you must yourself be confronted with remarkable extraordinary burdens and making it in a moment as that current one, in which the world it is entering in a phase of serious economic crisis, appears as a movement commits suicide.

However to sound the sirens for some ten of second does not annoy nobody. Saying without hypocrisies: a strike has succeeded when the institutions are decided to receive the requests of the promoters of the abstention from the job on the wave of the protests of those people to which strike cause uneasiness.

Interest of the shipowners - from the international ICS to the European ECSA downwards - would have to be also that to safeguard and to promote the attraction of the marine profession. Interest that sure is, since, remaining in European within, the shipowning organizations periodically speed up the EU to stimulate and to stimulate the access to the marine professions and regularly the shipowning European Union and organizations are boasted to offer to the European citizens places of work highly characterized in the marine field.

Which it can be the perception of a young person regarding the perspectives offered from this field when those of the sea are dealt as the last ones between the workers? Which it can be the interest to enter in an Istituto Nautico when then your profession "highly characterized" forces you to an imprisonment on a ship inhabited from little other wretches? As if to appreciate Dante it were deemed a privilege for which they are forced to discount a preventive jail sentence.

Bruno Bellio

›››News file
FROM THE HOME PAGE
Terminal Intermodale Venezia, concession contract renewed
Terminal Intermodale Venezia, concession contract renewed
Venice
The duration of the agreement is 25 years. Investments of over 100 million euros are expected
Ahead of the election, Australia is arguing over who will oust China's Landbridge from the Port of Darwin
Darwin/Strathpine
Assurances to this effect were given by both Prime Minister Albanese and opposition leader Dutton.
US tariffs will cause a four percentage point reduction in the expected volume of world trade
Geneva
The World Trade Organization believes so
84% of new constructions ordered by the Italian navy will be built in China
Rome
Analysis by the Confitarma Study Center on the possible impacts of US duties on the national shipping industry
GNV ships will call at Algerian ports for the first time
Genoa
In summer, the weekly connections Sète-Algiers and Sète-Bejaia will be activated
Boluda Towage and Marsa Maroc to operate towage services in the new port of Nador West Med
Valencia
Denton (ICC): Trump's tariffs pose a crucial challenge to rules-based trade governance
Denton (ICC): Trump's tariffs pose a crucial challenge to rules-based trade governance
Paris
Rather, he stressed, multilateral solutions are needed to resolve the long-standing inefficiencies and inequalities in the global trading system.
Guerrieri appointed extraordinary commissioner of the Northern Tyrrhenian Sea Port Authority
Leghorn
The mandate granted by MIT has no expiration date
APM Terminals buys the Panama Canal Railway Company
The Hague
The company operates the railway line parallel and adjacent to the Panama Canal
Piloda plans a hub for ship repair, refitting and demolition in the port of Brindisi
Naples
Expression of interest for the reconversion and reindustrialization of the former coal power plant area
Kuehne+Nagel to handle spare parts logistics for Changan electric cars in the European market
Schindellegi
Agreement with the Chinese car manufacturer
A.P. Møller Holding submits offer to acquire entire share capital of towing company Svitzer
AP Møller Holding submits offer to acquire entire share capital of towing company Svitzer
Copenhagen
The Mærsk family investment company already owns 47.0% of the company
Public interest declared for MSC, Neri and Lorenzini's project for a new container terminal in Livorno
Slight annual growth in freight traffic in Italian ports driven by containers
Slight annual growth in freight traffic in Italian ports driven by containers
Rome
In the container segment, the strong increase in transhipments offset the decline in imports and exports
Turkey's Desan Shipyard in talks to take over Mangalia shipyard
Bucharest
The Tuzla plant is much smaller than the Romanian one
Six international shipping associations present a guide to planning safe navigation
London
TUI awards Fincantieri contract for two new cruise ships for Marella Cruises
Hanover/Trieste
Deliveries are scheduled for 2030 and 2032
ESPO urges EU and Member States to allocate funds to decarbonise ships and ports
Brussels
Earmarking Innovation Fund proceeds to stimulate demand for clean marine fuels
China Antitrust Launches Investigation into Hutchison Ports' Panama Terminal Sale
Beijing/Hong Kong
Panama Ports Company operates the Balboa and Cristobal ports
PSA posts annual revenue growth, but profits fall
Singapore
Sharp increase in operating costs across the board
Temporary Port Labor Supply Company in Cagliari Extended for Another 18 Months
Cagliari
In 2024, cargo traffic in Chinese seaports grew by +3.5%
Beijing
Increase of +6.9% in traffic with foreign countries. In the first two months of 2025, 1.75 billion tons were moved (+1.6%)
Chinese container maker CIMC posts bumper 2024
Hong Kong
Almost 3.6 million containers sold (+372%). Record revenues
Le Aziende informanoSponsored Article
AAL Shipping sceglie il sistema di consulenza marina di ABB per ottimizzare la flotta Super B-Class
In February, freight traffic in the port of Genoa fell by -4.4% and in Savona-Vado it increased by +24.5%
Genoa
Cruise and ferry passenger decline
ICS, Trump's proposed measures against Chinese ships risk having significant unwanted consequences, even for the US
Washington
Strong opposition to their introduction also expressed by the WSC
Intercargo, international measures for decarbonisation of shipping must be simple and clear
London
Gkonis: Must not compromise operational efficiency and smooth global transport of essential goods
Port of Barcelona invests 124 million to develop sustainable fuel traffic
Barcelona
Construction of three new moorings at Moll de l'Energia
In 2024, freight traffic in the port of Catania began to grow again. A decline in Augusta
In 2024, freight traffic in the port of Catania began to grow again. A decline in Augusta
Augusta
A total of 7.9 million and 23.0 million tons of cargo were handled
In 2024, the terminal operator HHLA recorded record revenues with a growth of +10.5%
Hamburg
Profit after taxes amounted to 56.4 million euros (+33.1%)
Launch of a public consultation for the updating of the PRPs of the ports of Genoa and Savona-Vado
Genoa
The involvement of territorial, economic and social communities is foreseen
ITU, ICAO and IMO highlight risks to maritime and air transport caused by attacks on satellite communications
Geneva/Montreal/London
London Government presents its strategy for decarbonising maritime transport
London
The measures for ports will be defined after a public consultation that will take place in the coming months
For security, military ships are not enough, merchant ships are also essential
London
TUI in talks with shipyards for two new cruise ships for Marella
Hanover
Slots available starting from the 2031 financial year
ANESCO, with the Port Employment Centers, accidents have decreased in the three main Spanish ports
Madrid
67% reduction in lost work days per year
Filt, Fit and Uilt, no to the transformation from "article 18" to "16" of the Livorno port company LTM
Leghorn
Unions ask port authority to block proliferation of new economic entities
Last year Fincantieri recorded record revenues and new orders
Last year Fincantieri recorded record revenues and new orders
Trieste
Folgiero: the first fruits of our strategy and industrial vision have been harvested
COSCO Shipping Holdings revenue increased by +44.8% in the fourth quarter of 2024
COSCO Shipping Holdings revenue increased by +44.8% in the fourth quarter of 2024
Shanghai
In the period, the container ships of the Chinese group's fleet transported 6.9 million TEUs (+13.1%). Containers on the Asia-Europe/Med routes fell
Porto Marghera, renewal of concession to Terminal Rinfuse Venezia
Venice
New 25-year contract. Investments of over 53 million euros expected
In the last quarter of 2024, container traffic alone increased in French ports
Paris
In the whole year, containers amounted to over 5.3 million TEU (+11.5%)
Carnival Sets New Low Season Quarter Records December-February
Carnival Sets New Low Season Quarter Records December-February
Miami
Positive outlook for the remainder of the 2025 financial year
Rail Losing Ground in Transalpine Freight Traffic Through Switzerland
Bern
In 2024, trains transported 25.7 million tons of cargo (-3.7%)
CK Hutchison's Port Division revenues grew by 10.8% last year
Hong Kong
In 2024, Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane recorded a net loss of -208 million euros
Rome
Revenues up by +11.7%. The group's freight transported increased thanks to the acquisition of Exploris
Port of Genoa, Ente Bacini requests new spaces and renewal of the concession
Genoa
Conference to celebrate the centenary of the company
The public meeting of the Italian Port Terminal Operators Association will be held in Rome on June 19th
Genoa
VARD to build offshore dive vessel for Dong Fang Offshore
Alesund/Trieste
The contract is worth 113.5 million euros
Next week Italian ports will participate in Seatrade Cruise Global
Rome
Initiative brand: "CruiseItaly - One Country, Many Destinations"
MSC Group Cruise Terminal Officially Inaugurated in the Port of Barcelona
Barcelona
In 2027 it will be equipped with a cold ironing plant
Marcegaglia and Nova Marine Carriers form NovaMar Logistic joint venture
Lugano/Gazoldo of the Ippoliti
A general cargo ship will transport raw materials to the steel group's plants
Liebherr achieves record annual sales in the maritime and port crane segment
Bulls
Strong demand for offshore and container handling equipment
The annual conference "Programming, Operation and Management of Transport Networks" in Genoa
Genoa
It is dedicated to the transport and mobility sector
Last year, 656 ships underwent repair work in Greece
Piraeus
Increase of five units compared to 2023
Port of La Spezia, cruise ship docking simulations completed at Garibaldi West pier
The Spice
Assagenti conference on the future of the profession of maritime agent and broker
Genoa
It will be held tomorrow in Genoa
Francesco Beltrano is the new general secretary of Uniport
Rome
He takes over from Paolo Ferrandino, who will continue to collaborate as a consultant
Stena Line presents a project for a ro-ro vessel capable of reducing energy consumption by at least 20%
Gothenburg
Introduced most of the innovative technologies currently available
Saipem awarded new contracts in Middle East and Guyana
Milan
The total value of the orders is approximately 720 million dollars.
Conference in Genoa for the centenary of Ente Bacini
Genoa
The company was established on 19 February 1925
Interporto Bologna Board of Directors Renewed
Bentivoglio
Stefano Caliandro Appointed President. Loss of 1.7 million euros in 2024
NYK invests 76 billion yen in NYK Energy Ocean Corporation
Tokyo
The newco has taken over the activities of ENEOS Ocean
Decarbonisation of maritime transport will be faster in the EU and the US
DHL Acquires CRYOPDP
Bonn/Nashville
The company provides courier services for clinics and healthcare
SAILING LIST
Visual Sailing List
Departure ports
Arrival ports by:
- alphabetical order
- country
- geographical areas
Over a million to the port companies of Livorno and Piombino to acquire green vehicles
Leghorn
The ranking for admission to the PNRR-Next Gen Eu contributions has been published
COSCO Shipping Development Co.'s container sales increased by +204.1% in 2024
Shanghai
The related turnover increased by +124.0%
The call for funding for the purchase of electric vehicles in the ports of Genoa and Savona-Vado has been published
Genoa
Yang Ming Buys Three New 8,000 TEU Containerships
Keelung
They will be delivered between 2028 and 2029
Construction of a cruise ship for Regent Seven Seas Cruises begins in Marghera
Trieste
Fincantieri will deliver the unit in 2026
Federlogistica establishes operational offices in Spain and Brazil
Genoa
The aim is to go beyond theoretical cooperative relationships
Over a Ton of Cocaine Seized in the Port of Gioia Tauro
Reggio Calabria
If placed on the market it would have generated over 187 million euros
In 2024, the economic results of Interporto Padova reached record values
Padua
Revenues up +17%
Three ceremonies at the Saint-Nazaire shipyard for three new MSC Cruises ships
Geneva
New flagship "MSC World America" delivered
German railway company DB Cargo reduced losses in 2024
Berlin
Revenues down again. -9.0% drop in freight volumes
NovaAlgoma orders second 38,000 dwt cement carrier in China
Lugano
It will be taken over in 2027
Customs agreement between Italy and Brazil to facilitate trade
Brasilia
Mission of the Customs and Monopolies Agency in the South American nation
A team from La Spezia Container Terminal in Rotterdam to test advanced technologies
The Spice
ECT Hutchinson Ports Training Center Visited
The assembly of Genoese freight forwarders on Monday
Genoa
It will be held at the Palazzo della Borsa in Genoa
Assarmatori, in Italy the ferry segment cannot bear the burden of the EU ETS in a very fragile market situation
Brussels
Messina: Protecting shipping from the ideological excesses of the Green Deal
The website of the Port Authority Corps - Coast Guard has been renewed
Rome
It has become a single digital access point to documents and services
In 2024, inland waterway freight transport in Germany increased by +1.2%
Wiesbaden
The volume, at 173.8 million tonnes, is the second lowest since 1990.
APM Terminals Granted Port of New York - New Jersey Concession Renewal
New York
Contract for a period of 33 years. Investments of 500 million dollars are expected
Experimentation of crane automation has begun at the Interporto Padova terminal
Padua
The interport company awarded the "Industria Felix 2025 Award"
Container traffic in the port of Algeciras fell by -17.0% in February
Algeciras
Both import-export volumes and transhipment are decreasing
New cruise company Crescent Seas has been founded in Miami
Miami
The fleet, initially consisting of one ship from Regent Seven Seas Cruises, will grow to five units within the next five years
In 2024, the volume of vehicles transported by Wallenius Wilhelmsen's fleet decreased by -9.7%
Oslo
Traffic down on almost all global routes
Agreement between Assoporti and Assologistica and the Florida trade, transport and port authorities
Rome
It was signed today
In April a mission in Albania of The International Propeller Clubs - Italy
Genoa
It will take place on the 9th and 10th in Tirana and Durres
COSCO Shipping Ports revenues rose to a record $1.5 billion in 2024 (+3.3%)
Hong Kong
In the fourth quarter alone, a decrease of -3.0%
SO.RI.MA. (FHP group) granted a concession of an area of 125 thousand square meters in the port of Chioggia
Venice
Investments of 11.5 million euros expected over 25 years
PORTS
Italian Ports:
Ancona Genoa Ravenna
Augusta Gioia Tauro Salerno
Bari La Spezia Savona
Brindisi Leghorn Taranto
Cagliari Naples Trapani
Carrara Palermo Trieste
Civitavecchia Piombino Venice
Italian Interports: list World Ports: map
DATABASE
ShipownersShipbuilding and Shiprepairing Yards
ForwardersShip Suppliers
Shipping AgentsTruckers
MEETINGS
The public meeting of the Italian Port Terminal Operators Association will be held in Rome on June 19th
Genoa
The annual conference "Programming, Operation and Management of Transport Networks" in Genoa
Genoa
It is dedicated to the transport and mobility sector
››› Meetings File
PRESS REVIEW
Damen Mangalia Unionists Protest Friday Against Possible Closure
(The Romania Journal)
Govt. to woo top ten shipping liners in world for Colombo port expansion
(Daily Mirror)
››› Press Review File
FORUM of Shipping
and Logistics
Relazione del presidente Nicola Zaccheo
Roma, 18 settembre 2024
››› File
Contship Italia’s intermodal network has been extended to the Gulf Terminal in La Spezia
Melzo
Connections with the inland terminals of Milan, Modena and Padua
Container traffic in the port of Valencia grew by +15.2% last month
Valencia
The overall volume of goods handled increased by +6.8%
The Northern Tyrrhenian Sea Port Authority obtains gender equality certification
Leghorn
It is the first Italian port authority to obtain this recognition
Container traffic growth weakens at ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach
Los Angeles/Long Beach
Last month, increases of +2.6% and +13.4% respectively were recorded
Assarmatori, the Italian government's position on the impact of the EU ETS on shipping and ports is good
Rome
Messina: fully understood the risks and distortions of European climate regulation
PSA Italy's Genoa port terminals awarded anti-corruption certification
Genoa
The UNI EN ISO 37001 standard defines the requirements for an effective anti-corruption management system
Assiterminal presents three projects for the sustainable transition of the Italian port sector
Rome
Work completed on docks 33 and 34 of the port of Civitavecchia
Civitavecchia
50,000 square meters of yards prepared
The completion and doubling of the Pontremolese is the dream-nightmare of the La Spezia port community
The Spice
Fontana: Money is not found when enormous resources are channeled into railway lines of dubious utility
Hanwha acquires 9.9% stake in shipbuilding company Austal
Sydney
Investment worth approximately 116 million US dollars
The European fleet is growing but competing fleets are growing at a faster rate
Brussels
Raptis (European Shipowners): investing ETS revenues in clean shipping technologies and fuels
Trasportounito has confirmed the national halt to the transport of goods
Rome
Proclaimed for the duration of five days from March 31st to April 4th
Container traffic in Hong Kong port increased by +9.1% in February
Hong Kong
However, for the second time in the last 25 years, cargo volume was below one million TEU.
Cargo traffic in Greek ports stable in Q3 2024
Piraeus
The increase in volumes transported on domestic routes has offset the decline in traffic with foreign countries
At the Vado Ligure container terminal a 21,000 teu container ship fully loaded
I go to Liguria
The 400-meter-long Cosco Shipping Nebula has landed
UIR proposes a permanent table for the development of intermodality
Verona
The main task is to build a project financing program.
Restructuring plan approved for Spanish company Armas Trasmediterránea
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
Creditors' appeal rejected
The decline in cargo traffic at the port of Singapore worsened in February
Singapore
Containerized cargoes amounted to 27.4 million tons (-3.6%)
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