Tag: abandonment of seafarers

During IMO Legal Committee, 110th session, that took place 21-26 March, 2023, the IMO adopted resolution (LEG.6(110)) to provide Guidelines for port State and flag State authorities on how to deal with seafarer abandonment cases. 

The IMO Legal Committee (LEG), 110th Session is taking place this week with a view to focus on the abandonment of seafarers, fundraising appeal after the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria and the extension of the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

The remaining crew members of a cattle carrier ship that was abandoned off the coast of Australia last year have been compensated by the new owner and sent back home.

Palau International Ship Registry (PISR) has issued a statement in response to ITF's claims that were published last week and placed Palau's registry flag amongst the four worst in the world.

Up to a thousand ships flagged to the Cook Islands, Palau, Sierra Leone, and Togo will be targeted for safety, maintenance and seafarer welfare inspections across the Mediterranean Sea in the coming eight weeks by an army of inspectors from the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), seafarers’ unions and port authorities.

Mr. Andrew Roberts, Executive Director, EMEA, RightShip, highlights the importance of data sharing and increased transparency for enhanced safety culture, both onboard and ashore. Data sharing also helps organization to choose the proper decarbonization initiatives and they can be held accountable for cases of crew abandonment.

In an exclusive interview to SAFETY4SEA, Dr. Jason Zuidema , General Secretary of the International Christian Maritime Association (ICMA) refers to the key drivers of crew happiness, highlighting that seafarers are not alone as there is a network for help to rely on.

According to RightShip’s 2022 Seafarer Abandonment Report, upwards of 1,682 seafarers coming from 103 vessels were cast adrift as 2022 became the worst year on record for reported cases of seafarer abandonment.

David Hammond, Human Rights at Sea, CEO, and Professor Steven Haines, University of Greenwich and Honorary Trustee, recently joined the Operational Maritime Law podcast to discuss the protection of human rights at sea, focusing on what can be done about the plight of abandoned seafarers.

A recent joint ILO/IMO meeting that took place in December and discussed the issue of seafarers’ abandonment, adopted guidelines to address the significant rise in such cases, referring to the general procedure and key steps for all parties concerned.