IMO’s year of action for seafarers

IMO has chosen to make 2021 a year of action for seafarers, who are facing unprecedented hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic, despite their vital role as key workers for global supply chains. The World Maritime Theme for 2021, "Seafarers: at the core of shipping's future" seeks to increase the visibility of seafarers by drawing attention to the invaluable role they play now and will continue to play in the future.

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed extraordinary demands on seafarers, with hundreds of thousands of men and women stranded on ships for months beyond their original contracts, unable to be repatriated due to national travel restrictions. A similar number of seafarers are unable to join ships and earn a living. This crew change crisis, which has been ongoing for nearly a year, is a humanitarian emergency that threatens the safety of shipping.

Launching the World Maritime theme, IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim said more Governments must step up to end the crew change crisis. "We all must do better to support our brave professionals who continue to deliver global trade. The dedication and professionalism of more than one and a half million seafarers worldwide deserve our great admiration and gratitude – but most importantly, immediate action," Mr Lim said.

Key worker designation is crucial to ensure seafarers can travel to and from ships and will facilitate access to priority vaccination. To date, 55 IMO Member States and two Associate Members have designated seafarers as key workers (click here for the full list).

Throughout the year, the World Maritime Theme will also put the spotlight on other issues related to the human element of shipping, including the safety and security of life on board ships, seafarers' well-being, and the importance of ensuring an appropriately trained and qualified workforce, ready to meet the challenges and opportunities of digitalization and automation.

The focus on seafarers is also in line with the work carried out by the Organization, since the beginning of the pandemic and before. "At IMO, seafarers have always been at the centre of all our work – be it in the area of safety, maritime security, or environmental protection," IMO SecretaryGeneral said.

Making voices of seafarers heard

As part of its efforts to put seafarers at the heart of discussions, IMO is promoting a series of profiles in which seafarers express their views on their work and the future of shipping. To view more profiles, visit the IMO website: https://www.imo.org/

en/About/Events/Pages/World-MaritimeTheme-2021.aspx

WORLD MARITIME SEAFARER PROFILES

NAME: HELEN FRANCES NAME: COULTAS

JOB TITLE: CHIEF MATE

What does diversity in maritime mean to you? And how can the industry work towards a more inclusive future?

A lot of the time I’m the only ‘non-man’ on board my ship. At a time when I hadn’t sailed with other women, I didn’t really notice it. Nowadays, I do often have another woman or even a couple of women on board, which is nice - and you really can see the difference. Diversity is a bit like a ‘chicken and egg’ situation, I didn’t think about it until I saw more of it. And then that encouraged me to see the benefits of it, and want to see more.

What would your top tips be for people looking to be more inclusive or create a more welcoming environment for diversity? What is the best way to cultivate and manage a diverse crew?

Every time I think about diversity at sea, it always comes down to “diversity sustains itself”. The more there is, the more you see the benefit. And I think it’s a matter of engineering that diversity more and encouraging different people. You can get a more diverse crew by hiring more diverse people - it has to be a conscious, active thing on the behalf of companies. You also have systems in place to support people who have different needs or might experience certain kinds of discrimination. So it comes down to a structural change, and then a mindset change within workers.

What do you want for the future of shipping?

My top tip would be to listen to people when they bring you issues - even if you think it’s something small, or you don’t understand why that’s upsetting them. If somebody says to you, ‘this thing that you’ve said or done, has harmed me’, they’re not doing it to attack you. They’re telling you that they want you to stop, and they’re actually making the effort to ask you to support them and respect them. And on a more positive note, I would say, reach out to people. Even if it feels a little bit uncomfortable checking in on people, you’re probably making a big difference to them, and it will be worth it in the end. I probably just want more diversity. I would love to have more LGBT+ people, more women, more trans and non binary people. And it would be really nice to be on a ship which has a lot more diversity - and not just men. It feels a lot more homely when you have all different kinds of people and it’s more likely that you’re going to find someone that you get along with. Diversity also brings more ‘mind-power’ to problem solving because people look at the world in different ways and there’s always more than one way to do things. I can’t think of a single aspect on board that wouldn’t be improved by more diversity. We’re selling ourselves short.