The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), along with industry and social partners, are encouraging ships in ports globally to sound their horns at 12 noon local time on 25th June, to honour of the International Maritime Organisations’ ‘Day of the Seafarer’.
This action also aims to serve as a reminder to the world of the urgent need to vaccinate all seafarers.
Last year’s campaign brought the crew change crisis to the world’s attention. A year after, the number of crew impacted by the governments’ border restrictions has halved to 200,000.
Nevertheless, deadly second waves in India and other countries are causing more travel bans for seafarers. What is more, access to vaccines is a pressing issue, as more than half of the international seafarer workforce is from developing nations that have limited vaccine supplies.
Guy Platten, Secretary General of the International Chamber of shipping, commented on the occassion:
We know just how important last year’s Heroes at Sea Shoutout was in raising the attention about the crew change crisis. Unfortunately, with the new variants and the dreadful outbreaks in India, seafarers are once again being forgotten
Mr. Platten also added that the Ever Given incident showed just how important shipping and seafarers are to global supply chains.
ICS, along with industry and social partners are calling on ships to sound their horns when in port at 12 noon local time on the 25th June, as long as it is safe to do so, to draw attention to the plight of seafarers, and ensure that they are prioritised for the vaccine. If this unique population is left unvaccinated, it risks further enflaming the ‘crew change crisis’
ICS said.
Some countries, including the US, and the Netherlands, have started seafarer inoculation programmes using their ports as vaccine hubs. These countries are vaccinating both native and non-native seafarers that enter their ports.
However, still many countries are shutting off their borders to travelers because of fears of emerging variants and the threat they will pose to domestic vaccination efforts.
Additionally, in order to help in the global seafarer vaccination effort, ICS has published a Vaccination Roadmap to help establish seafarer vaccination hubs, similar to those currently in operation. The roadmap:
- Proposes a framework dedicated to seafarers, for the establishment of vaccination centres in hubs, i.e. places easily accessible to seafarers (ports or airports).
- Describes aspects to consider in a vaccination programme for seafarers, such as:
– Planning, setting up and operating a vaccination centre, including vaccine logistics and distribution.
– Rostering seafarers and associated documentation.
– Legal/liability considerations.
