Seafarers, shipowners press Powell to relax shore leave restrictions

Seafarers, shipowners press Powell to relax shore leave restrictions    Several organizations representing seafarers and international shipowners have united in a campaign to highlight the problem of seafarers being denied shore leave “as an unfortunate feature of post 9/11 security measures.”
   To coincide with World Maritime Day Thursday, the seafarers’ union International Transport Workers’ Federation and the shipowners’ organizations Baltic and International Maritime Council, International Chamber of Shipping, International Shipping Federation, Intertanko and Intercargo have written a joint letter outlining their concerns to the United States Secretary of State, Colin Powell.
   “Due to the special nature of seafarers’ employment — with crew working at sea during voyages of several weeks’ duration — the provision of shore leave in the foreign ports that seafarers visit is vital to ensure their well being and welfare,” the industry associations said in the letter. “However, one of the unresolved problems created by post 9/11 security concerns is the tighter restrictions being placed on the movement of seafarers by certain governments, not least the United States.'
   Industry representatives are also meeting with Efthimios Mitropoulos, the secretary general of the International Maritime Organization, in London. They want to emphasize that, in view of the security role that has been conferred on seafarers by the International Ship and Port Facility Security code, “policies such as denial of shore leave are counter productive to security objectives, generating ill feeling among those who have such an important security role to play.”
   “On World Maritime Day we are all joining to back the basic rights of those who work at sea and to remind the U.S. and other governments that enhanced security will be achieved by cooperation not confrontation,” said David Cockroft, general secretary of the International Transport Workers’ Federation.
   The industry groups said 1.25 million seafarers work on board merchant ships that service international trade.