‘SEAFAIRER’ Roundtable 2023

Marking two years since the publication of the Delivering on Seafarers’ Rights Code of Conduct and accompanying Self-Assessment Questionnaire, IHRB, The Rafto Foundation for Human Rights and the Sustainable Shipping Initiative, held the second annual ‘SEAFAIRER’ roundtable in Singapore on 28th November 2023. The event, held under the Chatham House Rule, was co-hosted by Wilhelmsen Ship Management and Mission to Seafarers, with support from the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and the Norwegian Embassy in Singapore.

By safeguarding seafarer rights, we are not only safeguarding their dignity but also their productivity

- Business leader

 

This annual event brought together over 60 shipping stakeholders– shipowners and operators, charterers (including commodity companies and traders), seafarers and seafarers’ rights organisations - to discuss how to tackle the most pressing seafarer welfare challenges, and to review developments in the Code of Conduct implementation. This year, the roundtable also looked at issues faced by shipyard workers in Singapore, building on a similar discussion by IHRB in Singapore in 2019.

Importantly, among the speakers were two Filipino seafarers who travelled from Manila, to report on a closed-door seafarers' workshop the previous week, arranged by IHRB, Mission to Seafarers and the Norwegian Embassy in the Philippines.

They both emphasised the importance of having someone to stand up for them, otherwise they remain voiceless in industry discussions.

Usually you don’t see seafarers included in the discussions with senior industry representatives. We need to delve deeper into the hard and inconvenient topics.

- Business leader

 

There was an urgent call to action for the responsible companies in the industry to consider how to tackle the smaller companies which may only own a few vessels, but where the most egregious human rights abuses are being committed. The tragic case of 13 lives lost recently on MV Raptor should act as a rallying cry to the industry to do everything in its power to cut off supply of cargo and seafarers to such vessels and the companies operating them.

 

Topic areas discussed at the roundtable:

Seafarer Welfare

The stark truth is that the majority of seafarers would not recommend the profession to their children. The Happiness Index, a quarterly survey of seafarers, has shown a steady decline over past three quarters. Living conditions on some ships are not adequate. The average facilities were compared to a prison cell in Norway. Indeed, a business leader said it may be nicer in the Norwegian prison. There are vessels coming out from shipyards today with joint showers, joint toilets, cabins like a prison cell, brutal lighting. Some of the issues that arose include lack of free drinking water, fatigue, stress and loneliness, and the issues already discussed above – fees, debt, shore leave, connectivity and so on.  But the positive correlation between seafarers’ welfare and safety is finally becoming apparent to industry. One shipping company, in order to create better interaction between crew, has introduced yoga sessions, cooking, sports, and simply just talking to each other.

How companies step up to support their seafarers and workers is crucial... The industry should invest in the welfare of seafarers.

- Seafarer
 

First of all, I would treat them as humans. When we look at vessels today, we are very far from that. Work is finally beginning to be done on mental health

- Business leader

 

Actions:

• The industry should develop more robust mental health training. 
• Families should be included in seafarer orientation so they know how the seafarer feels and what living at sea will be like.
• There needs to be proper planning for decent vacation, good management, support onshore, and a better ship to shore career path.
• On mental wellbeing, the stress of being away from home should be addressed.
• The industry needs to be encouraged to start talking about soft skills for seafarers – suicide awareness, mental health, cultural differences.
• So many issues that are dealt with come down to cultural differences and language misunderstandings. Industry needs to promote a culture of working together in a better way.

 

Shore leave

The right to shore leave was enshrined in law by Norway in its first Seamen’s Act in 1923, and yet in 2023, shore leave was described by a civil society representative as without doubt one of the greatest welfare challenges.

Shore leave everywhere should be mandatory.

- Business leader
 

Shore leave has still not returned to pre-pandemic levels. Seafarers are being told that either they shouldn’t be taking shore leave and face pressure not to come ashore – it is seen as too difficult/costly, or seafarers are being asked to pay to clear immigration/security at some ports, and there is often no transport for the crew to leave the port. Even then, if crew wants to do so, time constraints in port make this difficult. There are also increasing reports of officers being required to join Zoom/Teams calls with shore colleagues while in port, as well as a growing administrative burden, eg. H+S reports to be completed during time in port, contributing to the erosion of shore leave. Serious levels of mental and physical fatigue are a cause of serious concern. There is an underlying current from some shipping companies that ‘you have connectivity, so do you need to take shore leave?’. One charterer representative told of a case of shore leave not being granted to crew leading to a completely avoidable fatality, because a port authority didn’t allow them off the ship to take a technical reading ashore.

It was generally agreed that this issue must be urgently addressed.

 

Connectivity

Connectivity for seafarers has been mandated in the latest amendments to the Maritime Labour Convention. In order to empower seafarers, WiFi with good speed is crucial. Good WiFi is proving a double-edged sword - it is clearly crucial for connecting with family and friends and important for online recreation but also leads to seafarers spending increasing amount of time isolated in their cabins. While the issue of companies demanding online meetings with crew is a growing concern as connectivity improves.

 

Recruitment and promotion fees, debt

Issues in this category include paying recruitment fees for jobs (explicitly prohibited under the Maritime Labour Convention), paying for promotions, fake job offers, charging for training, payslip ‘sleight of hand’, among others. Seafarers can be threatened, even blackmailed, by recruitment agencies, for refusing to pay such fees, preventing them from job opportunities. Recruitment fees are often euphemistically known as ‘cash advance or enrolment fees’. In addition to these issues, there is a prevailing culture of debt – of loans and of high loan interest. Seafarers are giving feedback that there is progress on recruitment and they feel empowered.

Actions: Shipping companies should undertake more robust due diligence on their crewing agencies with regard to recruitment and other hidden fees charged to the seafarers leading to a debt cycle and should introduce the Employer Pays Principle into contracts. Unfortunately, compared to other sectors, repayment as remediation is difficult for seafarers working globally. Research on the issue of recruitment fees has created an entry point for progress – allowing more conversation with shipping companies about the issue of ‘clean recruitment’ - but it will take time.

Another major issue is the number of people in a seafarer’s family and community who rely on the seafarer’s wages.

 

Being a seafarer is hard. Even those not in your immediate family ask you for help. There is shame attached to refusing. It is hard to change and break that tradition.

- Seafarer

 

The worst day of my contract is day just before I go home. Financial demands - long list of who in family must pay money to. All my wages gone and then I have to turn round and go back out to sea.

- Seafarer

 

Actions: Including families in seafarer orientation will let them better understand how seafarers feel. Seafarers present said that supporting the families is absolutely crucial. There need to be conversations about setting expectations and boundaries. Companies/trainers should take families on that journey to understand what life is going to be like when family members are at sea.

 

Grievance

One of the seafarers present noted that seafarers are hesitant to report grievances because they could be held responsible for legal issues at ports.

Grievance mechanisms don’t work well. There’s a risk of blacklisting by the company.

- Seafarer
 

Grievance mechanisms need to be improved for seafarers... to avoid them being blacklisted by companies. A civil society representative said that grievance mechanisms are at their best when they are designed to help strengthen continuous learning, engage with stakeholders to understand what is causing the same problems to recur.
 

Women Seafarers

Empowerment of women seafarers is a matter of urgency to redress the serious gender imbalances in the industry at all levels.. Only 2% of seafarers are women, and most of those are on cruise ships. A seafarer present quoted a survey which showed that 70% of women seafarers have faced bullying, discrimination, harassment. Diversity on board is absolutely needed to enhance crew. A framework for best practices for women seafarers is much needed.

We need to ensure that the industry as a whole is inclusive to every person, no matter who they are, where they are from, what they identify as, and how they are – we also have neurodivergent people working on ships. We need to build a community that is inclusive for everyone that is willing and capable of being at sea.

 

Abandonment

Recently there were four cases of abandonment in the UAE. The crew had not been paid for over a year. They had no food, water, or oil for generators. Mission to Seafarers are taking care of their survival needs and advocating for their return, plus the payment of their wages.

Sometimes abandonment is a strategic decision by the owner. Seafarers often wait until the last minute to flag that they are being abandoned for fear that their employer will hold it against them, e.g. refuse to pay their wages etc. Seafarers are also often blindly loyal, believing the companies when they promise ‘we’ll pay you next month’. Often it can be the smaller feeder vessels that are abandoned.

Actions: How can we track and prevent this?
 

Industry Due Diligence

RightShip’s Crew Welfare Self-Assessment Tool has seen a 70% increase in coverage, now covering 10,000 vessels and 400 companies. In the self-assessments submitted, the weakest areas are mental health support, shore leave, wellbeing, catering, provision of health insurance and family support, manning agencies standards.

What keeps me up at night is how can we not allow the rogue operators to have access to cargo and crew, those who willingly decide to ignore regulations and standards.

- Business leader

The self-assessment is facilitating the conversation – especially with small ship owners at different maturity levels. This is important as we need to promote adoption of the self-assessment by the smaller companies where abuses are most serious. It is more than standard as it includes some guiding principles. However, it is not a full due diligence tool. Currently, one part of the due diligence puzzle is ITF and welfare organisations doing physical inspections. One shipping company completed the self-assessment three years ago because a cargo customer asked for it. But the magnitude of the task may be a barrier for many.

Actions: The self-assessment needs to be more auditable, and needs to be more than just desktop verification. Progress in this direction is being looked at. Also being looked at is how to slim down the self-assessment process to make it less onerous for shipowners and operators – this will encourage wider take-up.  Customers and charterers should request shipping companies complete the self-assessment. Long-term partnerships for audits would allow progress tracking. A transparency clause could be added to charter requirements. More inspection is needed at ports.

 

Shipyards

Many of the challenges that seafarers face are also present in the shipyards. Walking around the shipyards, it is obvious what issues exist. Migrant workers need days and time off.  Recruitment fees of migrant workers in shipyards are sometimes so high it can take years to pay off their debt. When workers feel trapped in their jobs, no solution will work. Even if they are made to do unsafe jobs they accept it. Another huge issue is the fear of retribution – that as migrant workers they might have their immigration status threatened.

A due diligence tool is being developed by Impactt and several industry players on improving migrant worker rights and welfare in dockyards in Singapore and beyond.

Actions: Open communication with workers is key to ensure we provide what they really need, not what we think they need. The only way to make change is to come together collectively to represent 30-37% of the business in ports for example. Otherwise, as one company, you may only represent 3-7% of the shipyard's business. There could be payback for being good companies adopting good standards.

The needle is moving, but a long journey starts with first steps. We have taken those first steps but we need to keep momentum going.

- Business leader

 

Legislation

The Norwegian Transparency Act regulates Norwegian companies’ transparency both home and abroad and requires companies to conduct due diligence, aligned with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. It both obliges and aids Norwegian companies in identifying, preventing, and mitigating impacts on human rights and working conditions, both in companies’ own operations, as well as in their supply chains. And supply chains of course include transport.

Anyone, including journalists, can now request such due diligence reports from Norwegian companies, and the companies are legally required to produce them.

With the Norwegian Transparency Act, companies cannot simply brush off issues to their suppliers, because the Act makes them responsible for identifying and preventing workers’ rights from being violated.

- Govt representative

 

There is also more national legislation upcoming, as well as discussions at the EU level on corporate sustainability due diligence directive (CSDDD), which if passed will require EU member states to implement national laws on corporate responsibility through supply chains.

After the roundtable, the participants visited the Mission to Seafarers Welfare Centre in the port, where they were told about the work of the Mission in provision of seafarer welfare.

In the evening participants attended a reception at the Norwegian Ambassador’s residence.
 

Organisations present: