As the container vessel APL Boston leaves the Chinese port of Chiwan
and gets underway toward Singapore,
the seafarers on board have an extra measure of protection.
Maritime transport accounts for as much as 80% of world trade.
Today some 1.5 million seafarers work and live on ships worldwide.
Life at sea has its risks and hazards.
Many seafarers are far from home for months,
and face a working environment that often include dangerous weather,
cultural or ethnic isolation, long shifts and little opportunity for shore leave.
They are also vulnerable to exploitation.
Seafarers have experienced abuse, charging of fees for finding employment,
non-payment of wages, breach of contracts, poor food supplies, unhygienic living spaces,
and even abandonment in foreign ports.
The Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 aspires to change all this.
The MLC, 2006 sets out rules and standards
for the working and living conditions of seafarers worldwide,
while at the same time
ensuring a fairer business environment for ship owners.
It is changing the lives of seafarers
like Dinesh, the 3rd Officer on the APL Boston.
"At sea, I wake up around 7 o'clock, and then I get ready, I go for my breakfast.
And after breakfast, around 8 o'clock my daily work starts.
8.00 will be my watch, navigation watch, from 8 to 12.
After that I break off for my lunch.
Then at 1.00 I go for my daily maintenance work."
Under the terms of the MLC, 2006, standards for Dinesh's wages,
annual paid leave, repatriation, medical care and social security benefits
are spelled out in his contract, known as the Seafarer's Employment Agreement, or SEA.
Ship owners are also required to ensure decent working and living conditions on board
in accordance with the detailed standards of the Convention.
"I am doing the normal maintenance, checking the condition of the hoses.
Check their condition, this is normal practice, normal maintenance.
Check the nozzle that it is easy to open, easy to close back."
"Nowadays we have EPIRB,
(not like the old days where we would just have to wait),
now you can get help from other ships, you can communicate:
you got portable VHF, you got sat.
So when you are in distress, definitely within 15 minutes you can get a signal out.“
Anand is 4th Engineer.
His job involves working with the engine, and handling chemicals, oil and fuel bunkering.
Everything is done according to procedure.
"Just checking the oil, checking the filters... insure normal running.
On purifiers there is routine maintenance, set on specific hours, open up and clean.
That is fixed.”
The MLC, 2006 also seeks to ensure that all possible measures are in place
to guarantee accident prevention and the safety protection of the crew.
"Every month we have to conduct a departmental safety meeting.
With all the officers and crew.
During this meeting, what I really want to deliver is the behaviour,
the base safety they should have.
So I try to deliver the message to them on what they have to achieve...
We discuss with the crew and the junior officers
about any injury or incident reported to the company .
So, we share this among us,
then we try to prevent that from happening on board our ship.“
The MLC, 2006 sets very specific standards about the maximum hours of work
and the minimum hours of rest that may be applied on board.
Work schedules must be posted
and seafarers must be given copies of daily records of hours worked.
That's important to Joven, one of the ship's cooks.
"Now, we have good training and the crew has to be very well trained,
the people sailing the ship. There is quality.
And then also the rest hour, the rest hour is very important.“
Quality of living conditions and recreation during the "off hours"
is also emphasized under the MLC, 2006.
"So I make sure they have the proper recreation on board ship.
We have a full gym on board this ship, pool tables,
we have a lot of games like bingo, horse racing.
They also enjoy a lot of other facilities like accommodation, good quality food.”
"Now with MLC in force, get more safer working environment and more rest hours.
So that when they are working, they are fresh, they are not fatigued
so they can perform a much safer job."
Besides ensuring modern standards for occupational safety and health,
the MLC, 2006 also guarantees an effective complaint-handling procedure
that is open to everyone on board
"It’s very transparent now for seafarers.
Now we have a post, like a complaint post.
If any crew have any problems, they have a right to complain, no matter what it is.
Whether it is living conditions, food, water, wages,
they just go see the head of the department.
Once they discuss it with the head of the department,
then the head of the department bring the matter to me,
then I will try to solve the matter on board the ship.
If I am unable to solve it, I will bring it to my company.
So, that’s a good thing about the MLC.”
Every commercial vessel of 500 gross tonnes or more on international voyages
now carries a Maritime Labour Certificate
showing compliance with standards set out in the MLC, 2006,
and a Declaration of Maritime Labour Compliance,
prescribing concrete measures to implement those standards on a particular ship.
They both relate to every aspect of work and living conditions on board.
Certification of labour conditions on board ships,
properly enforced through Port State Control measures,
promise to change the culture of seafaring.
"For me I started off on old ships and now this transition has really been comforting
and I feel this is the best I can be. I feel the good spirit,
I mean the crew really helps us with our work.
It’s really helps with our motivation to keep going on...
at sea, we are an isolated group and we need to keep up our spirits.”
"As a master you should keep the ship safe, and happy,
so all the crew will be happy working with you.
With the MLC, you can do things like:
You must make sure the people on board have adequate rest,
that the rest periods are long, and they are not overworked.
This is to ensure the safety of their life.
MLC is a good thing that is happening to seafarers now,
I know that all my crew members are medically fit, properly paid and certified.“
As the APL Boston ends its journey,
the seafarers on board know the real difference
the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 is about to bring to their daily lives-
putting their job security, health and safety, and well-being
in the centre of labour protection, nationally and internationally.