The Hindu Business Line : Week-long campaign to safeguard seafarers' rights gets under way

Crews are to be trained and competency should be verified as per STCW 95, said the Nautical Surveyor, Mercantile Marine Department, Capt Rakesh Johri.

Kochi , Dec. 5

THE Flag of Convenience (FoC) action week organised by the London-based International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) began at the Kochi Port on Monday.

The campaign focuses on safeguarding the rights of seafarers in developing countries to improve their living and working conditions. The action week organised by the ITF through its affiliate Cochin Port Staff Association here commenced with a seminar in which Port State Control officials, steamer agents, seafarers and dockers participated.

They discussed how the week-long campaign could be improved through the active co-ordination of port officials, port agents and the ITF to secure better wages and international health and safety standards for crews of FoC vessels.

Inaugurating the seminar, Capt Paul N. Joseph, Deputy Conservator of the port, reiterated the necessity of imposing strict measures on FoC ship-owners to adhere to minimum international labour standards.

Capt Rakesh Johri, the Nautical Surveyor, Mercantile Marine Department, said that seafarers in developing countries would require more attention from ITF to safeguard their rights from unscrupulous manning agents. Crews are to be trained and competency should be verified as per STCW 95, he said.

Capt Abraham Kuruvilla, a shipping expert, said that there are both good and bad FoCs. FoCs that create problems for seafarers and pollute oceans should be curbed.

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