By Capt Shiv Halbe

International Maritime Organisation, the nodal international body for maritime matters, adopted 25th June as the ‘Day of the Seafarer’ in a diplomatic conference in 2010, held in Manila. Its stated purpose is to recognize the unique contribution made by seafarers from all over the world to international seaborne trade, the world economy and civil society as a whole. The resolution "encourages Governments, shipping organizations, companies, ship-owners and all other parties concerned to duly and appropriately promote the Day of the Seafarer and take action to celebrate it meaningfully". Day of the Seafarer is recognized by the United Nations as an ‘observance day’. 

The biggest positive of seaborne trade, is that colossal amounts of goods are transported by sea, by a relatively small number of ships, operated by a small number of seafarers, with minimum fuss, efficiently and safely. As per report by UNCTAD, 11.09 billion tonnes of cargo was moved by sea in 2021. That equates to 1.5 tonnes per person, based on the global population of 7 billion! Yet, there are no more than 2 million seafarers who undertake this monumental task!

Why is it that the majority of the population is oblivious to this information? Probably because ships are largely unseen (unlike aircraft or trucks), when in port- they are ‘blocked’ from view of prying eyes, as port entry is usually severely restricted, and when crossing the oceans, they are ‘out of sight and out of mind!

So, what does this mean to the seafarers who operate these complicated modes of ocean transportation? Simply put, they are treated as if they are at the end of the food chain! Matters are so concerning that in 2006, the International Maritime Organisation (a UN body) issued guidelines on ‘fair treatment of seafarers’!  During the pandemic, when countries were forced to adopt severe control measures, efforts to keep the global supply chain were undertaken, and thus, unhindered movement of ships (and goods) was encouraged, without thought as to how will the seafarer travel from his place of duty (ship) or return home upon completion of his tour of duty!

Global organisations, such as IMO, ICAO, ICS, ITF etc came together and appealed to the global community to permit unhindered passage of seafarers to and from place of duty. Did matters change? hardly! Efforts were made in fits and starts, for eg, India permitted diversion of ships to some of the major ports in India to make ‘off port calls’ for permitting crew changes (hitherto prohibited for security reasons), but this model was not adopted by most of the maritime countries, thereby limiting the impact of the effort to few seafarers!

Then there is the matter of ‘shore leave’. Not long ago, a seafarer's life on board, though somewhat lonely, was also filled with some charm as he/she could ‘step ashore’ when the ship arrived in port. With changing technology, modernisation and increased efficiency, the ‘port time’ of ships reduced considerably and even before the onset of the pandemic, it was not uncommon for seafarers to be ‘bound on board’ for long periods due to lack of facility, or time,

So, what does a seafarer want on this day of the seafarer?

1.  Fair treatment of seafarers should not be limited to a document released by IMO but practiced in letter and spirit

2.  When the ships arrive in ports, the seafarers are accorded the dignity and respect due to any professional in a civilised society.

3.  Criminalisation of seafarers must stop!  The recent case of seafarers on the MT Heroic Idun being held captive for nearly 9 months by Nigerian authorities for alleged involvement in ‘stealing’ of oil cargo, is a case in point.

4.   Access to shore facilities when the ship is in port, as a matter of right rather than favour, he accorded.

5.  Seafarers, typically, have to join ships in ‘foreign’ ports. Lack of visa acts as an impediment. Convention 185 (Seafarers identity document- SID) of the International Labour Organization has been adopted by many countries. Article 6 of the Convention clearly states;

Quote

Transit and transfer

7. Each Member for which this Convention is in force shall, in the shortest possible time, also permit the entry into its territory of seafarers holding a valid seafarers' identity document supplemented by a passport, when entry is requested for the purpose of:

(a) joining their ship or transferring to another ship;

(b) passing in transit to join their ship in another country or for repatriation; or any other purpose approved by the authorities of the Member concerned.

Unquote

This clause be adopted without delay for ease of travel of seafarers

Closer home, some of the issues plaguing the seafarers:

1.      The Government of the day is promoting digitalisation of processes for transparency and ‘ease of business’. Laudable initiative indeed. However, the platforms provided for such an initiative need to be robust and contemporary. Scenarios where all parties involved, administrator, regulator and user, have to strive hard to achieve desired results should be avoided.

2.      Promotion of employment is not just a political goal, but a social need. All stakeholders need to be aligned and should work towards this. Situations where one system works but the interconnecting doesn’t, should be addressed immediately. Case in point, is the e-migrate platform provided for seafarer immigration clearance is, at times, not matching with the system used by Bureau of Immigration, resulting in seafarers being denied clearance, and thus missing ships!

On a holistic note, society needs to be made aware that such a profession exists. This can be achieved, maybe, by including a small paragraph in the school syllabus about this noble profession. Our Prime Minister and the President address the nation on 15th August and 26th January, respectively. It is customary that they thank all segments of the society- farmers, doctors, scientists etc, and rightly so. Maybe it is time that they thank the logistics sector- ports, ships, seafarers, transport workers who keep the supply chain moving. After all, the Hon’ble PM has launched the National Logistics policy, which envisages making the sector more efficient, thus bringing about cost reduction and increasing reliability.

Till then- the seafarer remains a silent provider!

(The author of this article is the CEO of India's leading shipping association, The Maritime Association of Shipowners Shipmanagers and Agents)

This article is a part of The Day of the Seafarers 2023 series of shipping articles written by maritime stalwarts as guest contributors

​​​​​​​