New Deal for Seafarers
On Wednesday the 18th of May, the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) and the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) announced that a new agreement had been reached on the global minimum wage for seafarers.
Our industry (maritime transport) is the only sector that has a global minimum wage this has been in place since 1958. This new wage scale will come into effect on the 1st of July this year. For the full announcement from the ICS click this link here.
This is great news for all seafarers and it's something that we support wholeheartedly. Seafarers had a rough time of things over the past two years. As the world was forced into quarantines and lockdowns due to the Covid 19 pandemic. It was these men and women who put the world on their backs, the unsung heroes of the pandemic as they kept the global economy humming.
Even though the United Nations (UN), International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) have now designated seafarers as “key workers”. Seafarers are still facing issues getting to and from their ships, it’s not as bad as it was during the height of the pandemic (2019–2021). When crews were not considered by governments to be an essential part of the workforce. Yes, you read that correctly these men and women who are responsible for the facilitation of over 90% of global trade weren’t considered by governments to be an “essential” part of the workforce. We were very vocal in calling for seafarers to be recognised as key workers. We along with our crews participated in the ICS’s “Shout Out For Seafarers” on June 25th “Day of the Seafarer” check out our video below.
At CTM we have always cared about the welfare of our crews so Wednesday's announcement was cheered by everyone in the office many of whom have worked at sea in the past. A career in seafaring is one that takes young men and women around the world and teaches them important skills. We hope that this announcement will make this career path more appealing to a wider audience.
When it comes to taking care of our crews' welfare we at CTM have always strived to make sure our crews have all they need and more. We were thrilled to have been nominated for this year's Crew Welfare Week’s Dry Bulk Operator of the year award. It’s recognition of the work that we have done along with our manning agent Augustea Ship Manning, to ensure that our crews are taken care of and part of the reason why we have a 99% crew retention rate. Find out more about what we do for our crews by watching our video presentation (below) or by reading our blog entry on how we take care of the crews under our management. You can register to view the online award ceremony and cheer for CTM by clicking here. Thank you for reading our latest blog entry and stay tuned for more to come.
