UKRAINE

This past week we have all seen the devastating scenes coming from Ukraine. The Russian invasion and indiscriminate bombing of cities, civilian areas and ports has continued. We utterly condemn the barbaric behaviour of President Putin and his military and hope a peaceful resolution can be agreed quickly.

Reacting to the crisis, the Transport Secretary Grant Shapps this week asked UK ports not to provide access to any Russian flagged, registered, owned, controlled, chartered or operated vessels. Our Director of Policy Peter Aylott was on BBC news talking about the impact this ban would have, as well as speaking to the Daily Telegraph and City AM.

We believe it is absolutely right the UK government considers a range of hard-hitting sanctions on Russia. It is our view that the banning of ships with Russian interests from UK ports will put further pressure on President Putin’s military objectives. The implementation of this new legislation will be complex in practical terms, as Russian cargos and seafarers are not banned from the UK but the vessels are. We are working closely with our colleagues in the government to ensure that its measures have the best effect.

We know that many of our members will have Russian and Ukrainian crews on board their vessels and indeed some are mixed. An important principle established during Covid was that seafarers are key workers, and it is vital that this is sustained for these seafarers during the current conflict for crew changes, repatriation and payments. We are working hard with the International Chamber of Shipping to monitor the situation, find ways of managing these issues and ensuring that crews are supported. We are also in constant contact with our European partners in ECSA and should there be any developments we will notify our members immediately.

MERCHANT NAVY MEDAL

Away from Ukraine, the nomination process for the Merchant Navy Medal is now open. The Merchant Navy Medal provides an opportunity for the industry to recognise meritorious service by British merchant seafarers.

It’s awarded annually to those eligible seafarers who are judged to have made a worthwhile contribution to merchant shipping, its operations, development, personnel, welfare, safety, or have performed an act of courage afloat. All the details on the nominations process can be found here.

EVENTS

Finally, this month we are holding a Maritime Labour Convention Course on March 22^nd and on Wednesday March 30^th we are hosting our AGM and following that a networking drinks reception. If you are interested in the MLC course please click here for more details, and if you are a member and would like to attend the AGM, or are a non-member and would like to attend the networking drinks, all the details on how to register can be found here.