Latvia has suffered more than most from the economic ravages of the current global recession but its difficulties has lit a light of hope for crew managers as larger numbers of its ex-seafarers are now returning to sea in search…

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• To provide EU-led welfare facilities for seafarers and their families in India

    Indian seafarers and their families stand to benefit from two new welfare schemes in 2010, thanks to an initiative by an ITF-affiliated seafarers’ union. The two schemes, initiated by the National Union of Seafarers of India (NUSI), will provide much needed financial help and assistance to seafarers and their families

• To stop imprisoning our sailors

    The Round Table of shipping associations has called on governments to stop imprisoning seafarers without charge claiming that that the spread of criminalisation and unfair treatment will only jeopardise the global recruitment and retention of seafarers.

• Finnish Association and unions agree on mixed teams

    The Shipowners’ association and the different seafarers’ employee unions in Finland have agreed on the terms of employing seafarers from non-EU countries on Finnish-flagged vessels. The aim is to secure the supply of competent seafarers on Finnish and Åland cargo vessels. The share of foreign employees in a shipping company

• PROPOSED CHANGES TO Jones Act already having an impact SEAMEN

    The impact of proposed changes to the Jones Act and the use of foreign flagged vessels in the US offshore sector is already being felt by seafarers according to international shipping recruitment agency Faststream, with companies rushing to replace their… Read at PROPOSED CHANGES TO JONES ACT ALREADY IMPACTING SEAFARERS

• Improvements for seafarers

    Ongoing international negotiations between maritime employers and the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) have resulted in improvements in seafarers’ working conditions despite the current economic downturn. Sixty delegates from 17 countries representing international maritime employers and the ITF, known as… Read at Improvements for seafarers

• Box connections perform better than the lines

    Containerports have not been as severely affected by the recession as container shipping lines according to a new study from Ocean Shipping Consultants (OSC), which provides containerport demand forecasts under various macroeconomic scenarios. Nevertheless “North European Containerport Markets to 2020 expects the decline in containerport volumes in 2009to range between

• Indian trade unions lobby shipping minister about the criminalization of seafarers

     Seafarers’ unions have called on the Indian government to support their campaign against the criminalisation of seafarers and help secure the release of the practice’s latest victims. The Indian Seafarers’ Federation – representing the ITF-affiliated unions, National Union of Seafarers of India (NUSI) and the Maritime Union of India (MUI) – met

• Update BIMCO and ISF manpower study in 2010

    It has been 20 years since BIMCO and ISF first decided to conduct the original 1990 BIMCO/ISF Manpower study and both parties have recently decided to launch a 2010 update.

• Enhanced Yoga ship

    Shipowners should consider encouraging their seafarers to perform yoga onboard ship as a remedy to possible diseases and ailments and as a way of introducing exercise onboard, the Chairman of the Shipping Corporation of India has suggested. Speaking at the 10th International Symposium of Maritime Health in Goa, Sabyasachi Hajara said

• Year of seafarers launches new STCW revisions

    As the Year of the Seafarer dawns, the professional standing of seafarer’s worldwide is set to be enhanced by the International Maritime Organisation’s STW Sub‐Committee completion of revisions to the 1995 Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping Convention. At the IMO’s official launch of the Year of the Seafarer in

• Wages Baltic Sea action targets seafarers

    Trade unions affiliated to the ITF yesterday launched a Baltic Sea week of action. ITF inspectors in Nordic countries will be inspecting vessels this week, to map current wage levels. The action week will also raise awareness and improve membership of the dockers’ unions in the Nordic countries. Trade union activists

• Romania: Sailor 30 percent fewer jobs this year

    The number of job openings for the approximately 18,000 Romanian sailors dropped 30 percent in 2009, a year when the international maritime market was seriously hit by the economic crisis, said leader of the Seafarers Free Trade Union (SLN) Adrian Mihalcioiu. “This year was the hardest for seafarers since 2000.

• Portsmouth enjoys strong summer volumes

    Portsmouth Commercial Port has defied the recession and fears that the strong Euro would decimate overseas holidays to post year on year growth in passenger and vehicle numbers between April and August this year. Read at Portsmouth Port enjoys strong summer volumes

• ISF concern SWINE FLU ACTION

    The International Shipping Federation (ISF), together with the UK’s Association of Port Health Authorities, Hamburg Port Health Center and Germany’s Institute for Occupational and Maritime Medicine, has responded to what it see as an over-reaction by some port health authorities the swine flu (H1N1) pandemic. The ISF accepts that seafarers

• Nigeria loses N150b for foreign seafarers

    Nigeria is losing over N150 billion annually to foreign seafarers due to dearth of manpower in the shipping sector. The hint was dropped at a two- day seminar on the role of seafaring in a nation’s economy at the Administrative Staff College, Topo, Badagry in Lagos. Sources said no fewer