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January 21, 2021
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- Open letter from ecsa and etf to EU summits
to facilitate the changes of ship crews
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- Priority access to vaccination for
Maritime
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 The European shipowners' association ECSA and the European trade union
etf transport workers sent an open letter to the
European Union summits in which they urge EU states to
allow ship crew changes to take place without
further delays and to ensure priority access for seafarers
vaccination campaigns for the Covid-19 health crisis.-
- "The Covid-19 pandemic - wrote the Secretary of
general of the European Community Shipowners' Associations, Martin
Mr Dorsman, and the acting Secretary-General of the European
Transport Workers' Federation, Livia Spera - triggered a crisis
unprecedented in the change of crews, which had an impact
on hundreds of thousands of seafarers, some of whom are
close to being stranded at sea for two years. There is the real
concern that, with the new restrictions, the situation may
get worse rather than better. The seafarers - they have
pointed out Dorsman and Spera -- are frontline workers in
a maritime industry that carries 90% of world trade.
They are therefore essential to ensure that nations are supplied
vital assets. Increasingly, during 2021, this
will include doses of vaccine, protective devices
individual and syringes to vaccinate populations and to
defeat the virus.'
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- Thanking the European Commission and the Member States for their
efforts to date to facilitate the change of crews of the
representatives of the ECSA and the ETF requested that,
"however, at this important moment in the fight against
viruses, seafarers are designated as key workers in all
eu Member States and have priority access to vaccines
for Covid-19. In addition - dorsman and Spera specified -
we call on EU leaders to continue to recognise the needs of
seafarers by ensuring that any strengthening of maritime
national restrictive practices provides for exemptions for seafarers and for
maritime personnel.'
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- Noting that 'even with priority access to
vaccinations it will take some time before all seafarers
vaccinated, Dorsman and Spera stressed that "during the
maritime and maritime personnel should not be
be subject to the vaccination obligation for the purpose of entry and
travel within the EU.'
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- Finally, by calling on the EU States and institutions to
exercise diplomatic influence vis-à-vis third countries at the
the end of an international recognition of seafarers as
workers and for all seafarers to have access to
priority to vaccination, representatives of the ECSA and the ETF
also called on EU transport ministers to ask
their colleagues responsible for health and business
to guarantee the right to medical care for
seafarers because, during the second wave of the pandemic,
there has been the reinstatement of some restrictions and the
lack of medical care for seafarers positive results at the
Covid-19.
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