The Centre for Worldwide Maritime Affairs, Ghana (CIMAG), has joined the Worldwide Maritime Group (IMO) and the Ghana Maritime Authority to mark this yr’s World Maritime Day.
The World Maritime Day theme for 2021, ‘Seafarers: on the core of delivery’s future’, seeks to extend visibility of seafarers by drawing consideration to the invaluable function they play now and can proceed to play sooner or later.
80 p.c of worldwide commerce is transported by ships, and the maritime provide chain is supported by greater than 1 million seafarers, who’re key in delivering the companies wanted to run our societies.
Even because the world slowed down on account of the pandemic, seafarers didn’t cease, however saved the provision chain operating to make sure items might attain their vacation spot.
This allowed world commerce to proceed, however it did so at nice prices to the seafarers.
The Covid-19 pandemic has created an unprecedented crew change disaster which has led to a whole bunch of 1000’s of seafarers being impacted and, in lots of cases, left stranded on ships past the expiry of their contracts.
The disaster has now been ongoing for greater than a yr and a half, and the most recent information reveals that the state of affairs is getting worse.
“Our collective failure to correctly tackle the crew-change disaster places the seafarers, who’re key in supporting international commerce, in an unacceptable state of affairs. It prevents them from returning residence to their family members and the prolonged durations at sea have important penalties on their bodily and psychological wellbeing” CIMAG mentioned.
It added that, “If left unresolved, the affect of the difficulties in finishing up crew-changes might develop as seafarers understandably sufficient start thinking about whether or not they wish to return to sea, which might pose a menace to the resilience of worldwide provide chains.”
The World Maritime theme for 2021 additionally hyperlinks to the United Nations Sustainable Growth Targets (SDGs) – notably SDG 4 on training and coaching; SDG 8 associated to respectable work; SDG 9 on innovation and business, which hyperlinks to the promotion of a resilient maritime sector; and SDG 5 on gender equality, linked to efforts to advertise seafaring as a profession for all, together with girls, specifically.
The 2021 theme can also be a continuation of, and is immediately linked to, the 2020 theme ‘Sustainable Delivery for a Sustainable Planet’ to focus on the function that seafarers will play in guaranteeing the sustainable future for delivery.’
With the Maritime business being the lifeblood of the worldwide economic system, CIMAG calls on governments and different stakeholders to take the welfare of seafarers extra severely for the survival of mankind.
