'SEAFAIRER' Roundtable, 2024

On 8th October 2024 IHRB, together with the Norwegian Embassy in Singapore (MFA), the Rafto Foundation for Human Rights, SSI and Mission to Seafarers, hosted its fourth annual shipping roundtable in Singapore, the third under the SEAFAIRER banner. Like last year, IHRB with the kind assistance of the Mission to Seafarers, hosted a workshop for seafarers in the weeks leading up to the event, this year in Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu. This workshop was designed allow seafarers to discuss, in a safe setting, issues that affect them in their work. A report from this workshop can be found here. Also like last year, the Norwegian Foreign Ministry generously funded two seafarers to travel to Singapore to attend SEAFAIRER and present a summary of the discussions/issues covered in India to global industry stakeholders. The importance of allowing seafarers themselves a voice was the major driver for MFA funding, and is a key element of SEAFAIRER.

The roundtable welcomed eighty stakeholders from all representatives of the shipping industry:

• shipping companies
• ship financers
• ship operators and managers
• shipping associations
• major charterers, commodity companies and commodity traders
• seafarer representatives/welfare organisations and other civil society
• government and embassy representatives

The event was held under the Chatham House Rule, and was kindly hosted by RightShip, with additional financial assistance from the Swiss Federal Department for Foreign Affairs (permission was given by speakers for specific quotes and reflections). 

Opening remarks were given by RightShip CEO Steen Lund, Norwegian Ambassador to Singapore HE Leif Trana and Filipino Ambassador to Singapore HE Medardo Macaraig.

Seafarers and recruitment fees

The first of the three panels focussed on recruitment fees. The panel was moderated by IHRB's Francesca Fairbairn and featured Christina Berg, Head of Communications at TURTLE, an Employer Pays Principle maritime recruitment platform. The discussion focussed around IHRB and TURTLE's recently published briefing: Seafarers and Illegal Recruitment Fees: 2024 Insights. The panel also included the two Tuticorin seafarers, who described from first hand experience the devastating financial and mental health impacts of excessive (and illegal) recruitment charges. Ben Bailey, Director of Programme at Mission to Seafarers, gave additional context including on how the impacts are not just on the indebted seafarers but their families who may have to deal with intimidation from loan sharks . 

Actions 

• It was agreed that concrete action must be taken by industry leaders, and IHRB and TURTLE have since formed an informal action group to tackle the issue of illegal recruitment fees in the maritime industry. (For more information please contact francesca.fairbairn@ihrb.org.)
• IHRB will follow up with local representatives to support awareness raising, and possibly a grassroots advisory service for the residents of Tuticorin - most of whose men are or plan to become seafarers. This will be done in partnership with the seafarers present and with Mission to Seafarers. 

Seafarers, human rights due diligence, and verification

The second panel was on verification of shipowner and operator due diligence of seafarer welfare. Moderated by IHRB's Frances House, the panellists, from RightShip, DNV and Idwal, discussed RightShip's new streamlined Crew Welfare Self-Assessment Tool, and verification options for self-assessment reports.  Rightship reported a significant increase in both companies and vessels reporting under the crew welfare self-assessment mechanism and are exploring options for verifying the crew welfare assessment. (More details to follow in SSI and IHRB's annual Code of Conduct Progress Report due for release December 2024.) Voluntary self-assessment can only ever be one tool in the box and is not a substitute for on-vessel inspections third party assessment mechanisms. It was agreed that port states, flag states, owners, charterers and finance actors all need to go further in their due diligence processes, and the forthcoming EU CSDDD and other transparency legislation will drive progress here. It was also noted that the industry must not be caught on the back foot with preparations for the EU CSDDD requirements, learning lessons from the experience with the EU Emissions Trading System.  

Actions

• Recognition from the industry that self-assessment is no substitute for actual 'boots on deck' verification.
• Greater discussion and clarity needed with regard to who bears the costs of on-vessel verification.
• Increased focus on preparation for EU CSDDD requirements within the industry. Seek opportunities for sharing of good practice.

Shipyard worker welfare

The third and final panel, curated by Edelman Global Advisory, covered the welfare of shipyard workers in Southeast Asia. Like last year and in 2019, Transient Workers Count Too again discussed challenges faced by these migrant workers, usually from Bangladesh. It was noted with some concern that conditions for these workers seem to have improved little since the first roundtable in 2019, when the same video was shown of Bangladeshis discussing having paid recruitment fees of upwards of US$5,000.

However, Impactt, Edelman, and reputable shipyard customers such as Equinor and Grieg Green, are involved in or using their own shipyard assessment tools. 

Actions

• Greater collaboration between like-minded shipyard customers.
• Engagement between shipyards and NGOs to address and improve treatment of shipyard workers.

Actions from 2023

• 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.
• 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.  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.
• 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.
• How can we track and prevent cases of abandonment?
• 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.
• 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.