THE Australian Maritime Safety Authority prioritises the safety and welfare of seafarers and recognises the nature of working at sea is physically and emotionally challenging. A seafarer’s life is often stressful; working hours are long and arduous; and life on board can be lonely.

Unfortunately, abandonment is an emerging issue. It can have a traumatic impact on seafarers and their families. In some cases, crews cannot leave their vessels without losing the right to be paid. There has been an increase in crew abandonment cases, including a recent case in Australia. In 2022, there were around 80 cases of reported abandonment globally.

On a positive note, in Australia we saw a significant drop in complaints related to repatriation issues which had been an impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Seafarer safety – physical and psychological – is still an issue in the rapidly changing industry. AMSA will do what we can to improve this, but industry must take the lead to make real change.

PRIORITIES IN 2023

In 2023, AMSA will continue to do our part to ensure seafarers on vessels visiting Australian ports are being afforded the requirements under the Maritime Labour Convention. These are the minimum requirements, not an aspirational target for the industry.

The Special Tripartite Committee of the International Labour Organization will be strengthening some provisions of the MLC in the wake of proposed amendments that were unanimously voted in at a meeting in May 2022. This includes Australia’s own proposed amendment that will make reporting of all fatalities at sea mandatory (commencing in December 2024).

The availability of this data is critical for patterns and trends to be analysed so we can better target areas of concern, such as mental health.

AMSA will continue to take a zero-tolerance approach to breaches related to seafarer welfare.

AMSA is committed to investigating all MLC complaints on ships in Australian waters – and has done so. AMSA continues to work closely with stakeholders, such as maritime unions, shipowner representatives, port authorities, seafarer welfare providers (such as Mission to Seafarers and Stella Maris) and governments on seafarer welfare issues.

AMSA bans vessels from Australian ports for serious breaches of the MLC. The reasons for the bans range from underpayment of wages; poor working and living conditions; inadequate provisions; inadequate hours of work and rest; and falsified records of work and rest. These are serious issues AMSA will continue to investigate and act on. Banning ships is an effective sanction for the worst cases.

MESSAGE TO THE COMMUNITY

The MLC requires all vessels to have an on-board complaints procedure that allows seafarers to make complaints without recourse or concern. These provisions also provide the opportunity for seafarers to escalate their complaints to the relevant port and flag-state when they are not resolved at the shipboard level.

When AMSA receives a complaint, we take all necessary actions to ensure the confidentiality of the seafarer concerned. We encourage resolution of complaints at shipboard level but if a complaint can’t be resolved, AMSA will investigate and can issue deficiencies, detain or outright ban vessels. Our message to seafarers sailing into our ports who believe that their living and working conditions onboard are being breached is that we continue to support you and follow up all complaints in Australian waters.

Seafarers often have no choice but to continue to rely on charitable organisations to support them. AMSA believes this should be the employer’s responsibility. The industry’s reliance on charitable services needs to be addressed. No other profession relies so heavily on a network of charitable organisations just to cover responsibilities that would ordinarily be the purview of an employer. It’s about time that the industry steps up and take responsibility for ensuring that seafarers are being afforded the level of crew welfare services that shore-based workers take for granted in their day-to-day jobs.

The socioeconomic landscape, and increasingly comparable salaries on-shore, are leading younger people to seek shore-based jobs over demanding and stressful work at sea, which can also pose challenges to the social and family lives of seafarers.

AMSA is committed to its vision of safe and clean seas, and will work with seafarers, employers and organisations to protect the safety and wellbeing of those at sea.

This article appeared in the March 2023 edition of DCN Magazine