The crisis of changing ship crews? It is far from over, in fact it goes from bad to worse

"The situation is going from bad to worse." He did confirmed Stephen Cotton, Secretary-General of the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), commenting on the latest survey, relating to the current month of July, of the Neptune Declaration Crew Change Indicator, the indicator to provide data updated on the issue of changing ship crews which is been defined by ship management companies that adhere to the Neptune Declaration on Seafarer Wellbeing and Crew Change, an initiative that aims to safeguard the well-being of maritime sectors which is seriously impaired by the effects of the pandemic crisis.

The indicator shows that the number of seafarers who are forced to stay on board their ships though their contract expired continued to rise going from the 5.8% of seafarers on board took over last May when the indicator was launched, at 7.2% in June for 8.8% of the current month, for a relative increase in the +51,7%.

In addition, recalling that the Maritime Labour Convention establishes that the maximum continuous working period that a seaman should spend on board a ship without enjoying vacation is 11 months, representatives of the Neptune Declaration highlighted that the percentage of seafarers who are forced to remain on board ships for a period of more than 11 months is increased from 0.4% last month to 1.0% in July, with a relative increase of +150%.

"The crisis of crew change- pointed out Cotton -- has been in place for more than a year and a half and the higher cost falls on seafarers and the well-being of their families. The situation was going from bad to worse, We need governments to do more than mere declarations of intent. We need concrete action to enable crew changes to be implemented safely.'

The Secretary-General of the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), Guy Platten, reiterated that "in order to resolve the of the change of crews it is necessary that all seafarers have priority access to vaccines. There were -- he specified - some progress that we welcome, such as in the united states and in some parts of Europe, but the vast majority seafarers cannot yet be vaccinated. It is urgent that the nations give priority to the vaccination of seafarers International standards.'

"The latest data - denounced the person responsible for Research of the Global Maritime Forum, Kasper Søgaard - show that the crew change crisis is far from Over. It is essential that all stakeholders work together to face up to our common responsibility to safeguard seafarers and make sure they can go home safely.'