Governments from across the world express their appreciation to seafarers and pledge to urgently resolve issues that have arisen due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Posted on: 9 July 2020
The UK Department for Transport has issued the below joint statement following a virtual summit led by UK Maritime Minister Kelly Tolhurst, which was held today, 9 July 2020.
Our collective efforts to combat the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic have demonstrated the critical need to prioritise the continued functioning of global supply chains to ensure the resilience of our national economies, and the importance of facilitating the safe and efficient operation of the maritime transportation system, which moves over 80% of global trade.
Critical to this endeavour is the ability of shipping companies to continue conducting crew changes throughout the world, notwithstanding the restrictions applied by many national authorities in response to the pandemic.
We, as the representatives of governments attending the International Maritime Summit on Crew Changes held on 9 July 2020 by the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, are deeply concerned by the global crisis.
Specifically, those created by ongoing obstacles affecting ship’s crew changes, the impact on the wellbeing of seafarers, and the impact that any failure by governments to resolve these issues will have on maritime transport, which must be permitted to continue to operate safely and efficiently throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
The governments of:
- United Kingdom
- Denmark
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Indonesia
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Philippines
- Saudi Arabia
- Singapore
- South Africa
- United Arab Emirates
- United States of America
