Focus On Present and Future Seafarers: The Effects of MLC

Seafarers play a vital role in the global economy of the future as well as in the global maritime industry. A healthy and safe work environment must secure a continuous stable influx to the industry.

Shipowners are employing people from all over the world in an industry that operates globally and does not know the concept of country borders.

The global nature of the maritime sector puts great demands on the shipping companies to ensure a safe and healthy work environment for all seafarers – no matter where they come from and where they set sail. It is the seafarers on board the ships that ensure the shipping industry's dominance in World trade.

Seafarers in focus
That is why the United Federation of Danish Workers; CO-SEA; and the Danish Shipowners’ Association in collaboration with the Danish Maritime Authority will be focusing on working conditions in the global maritime industry at the conference “Conference on the Seafarer as part of Global Quality Shipping”. The conference is part of Danish Maritime Days and takes place on October 6.

“Seafarers play a crucial role in the global economy and in the international shipping industry. We have to ensure that the next generation of seafarers have attractive working conditions at sea. We need to make sure that we have safe and healthy work environments at sea, to make young people choose a maritime career out of passion and in the expectations that the maritime sector is a place where they can have a fruitful career, which will utilize their full potential,” said the organizers behind the event.

MLC in the real world
An important step towards a more healthy and safe work environment in the global maritime cluster was taken with the ratification of the Maritime Labor Convention (MLC) of 2006.

The MLC entered into force in august 2013; the “Conference on the Seafarer as part of Global Quality Shipping” will look at what has happened in the year that has passed since ratification.

“The ILO-convention regarding the working conditions of the seafarers (MLC 2006) is a unique accomplishment that combines no less than 37 ILO-conventions and corresponding recommendations in just one set of rules. The MLC-convention is shaped uniquely for the shipping industry, making it the only business sector in the world that has a shared international framework dealing with all aspects of employment,” the organizers conclude.

“But the MLC-convention only offers a framework that we jointly have to comply with, realizing the quality objectives that the rules express. It is actual MLC compliance on board of the ships and in the shipping companies that is the heart of the matter,” the organizers add and point out that the conference will have the practical implementation of MLC in focus.

danishmaritimedays.com