Friday, January 21, 2011

To Protect Pinoy Seafarers: RP mulls blacklisting carriers with sloppy crew protection program

The Philippine Government is contemplating to blacklist international shipping lines with a history of terrible crew protection.

Philippines has already requested the UK Maritime Trade Operations to provide the country with the list of the shipping companies that have been listed violating the best practice guidelines on crew protection.

Philippine maritime officials explained that they requested for such list in order to allow them to guide their seafarers accordingly.

However, reports said, the agency is adamant to approve the request of the Philippines in order not to upset the shipping lines with such records.

Officials would not be drawn on whether this would effectively mean that crew labor would be withdrawn from vessels that appear on the list, however the Philippines alternate permanent representative to the International Maritime Organization confirmed that the government would “continue to explore all measures that could be adopted to prevent piracy incidents off the Gulf of Aden and the Somali Basin”.

According to European Union Naval Forces, the number of shipping companies registering their Gulf of Aden transits in line with industry guidelines has increased over recent months, however they estimate that 15%-20% of vessels are still not complying.

Source: Harborscope

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