Following a session conducted by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) warns the industry of the dangers arising from the temporary shortcuts amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Specifically, the ITF highlights “an unsustainable trend by industry players, including flag starts, to deprioritize ship safety out of expedience rather than necessity.”
To better explain, the Federation provided examples of the growing trend toward remote inspections. Although they are not against remote inspections for safety reasons, they take exception to situations where the ship’s crew is allowed to perform the remote inspections “expected to independently and objectively report on their own safety and security on top of their watchkeeping duties.”
The World Maritime University conducted exploratory research into the implementation of the current framework on work and rest. The associated research activities broadly aimed to achieve the following:
- Investigate stakeholder perceptions of the capacity of the current international regulatory framework to effectively prevent fatigue;
- To assess the barriers to effective implementation onboard ships;
- To evaluate the level of compliance with the current regulatory regime.
Odd Rune Malterud, co-author of the ITS’s new report and chair of the Maritime Safety Committee commented that
These rules were introduced to protect seafarers’ safety, lives, and the marine environment over many decades. They are the result of learning from incidents in the past: be it an accident; a drowning; a spill; a grounding; or a death.
In addition, he expressed concerns on the industry’s backsliding on safety and seafarers’ rights.
The report notes that three-quarters of the seafarers who took the ITF survey said they worried about ‘Being tired and fatigued’, while 60 percent said it was more likely than not that they or their crewmates would be ‘involved in an accident that could harm human life, property or the marine environment due to tiredness or fatigue while on board’.
According to the report, the main areas of concern that are being undermined under IMO regulations are:
- Threat to the safety of lives and ships at sea;
- Threat to the marine and coastal environment;
- Seafarers loss of employment opportunities and income;
- Reduction to manning levels;
- Additional responsibilities are being required of the seafarers beyond their normal duties;
- Increased physical and mental pressure and fatigue;
- Limited access to port facilities and the consequences on ship operations and social issues;
- The plight of seafarers’ families;
- Reduced attractiveness to pursue a career at sea when international and national legislation that has been adopted for the protection of seafarers can so easily and over a sustained period of time be set aside.
ITF Seafarers and Inland Navigation Section Coordinator, Fabrizio Barcellona concluded that
We understood the need for flexibility early on in this pandemic. But it has been six months now, and we have reached the safe limit of exemptions, extensions, and all-too-convenient interpretations of these life-saving rules. If action is not taken, there will loss of human life and irreparable damage to marine ecosystems.
You may learn more by clicking herebelow
