PIONEER NEWS SERVICE/ Dehradun
The chief executive officer of the Maritime Association of Shipowners, Shipmanagers & Agents (MASSA), Capt Shiv Halbe said that the seafarers are treated, more often than not, as undesirable elements and denied basic human rights across the globe. “Even India, despite being a major source of seafarers for the global arena, does not fare very well on the ‘fair treatment’ index. Welfare facilities, shore leave and repatriation arrangements, as mandated by the Maritime Labour Convention 2006, are woefully lacking,” he rued.
He expressed his views on the plight of Indian seafarers on the occasion of ‘The Day of the Seafarer’ observed on June 25. The day acknowledges the crucial contributions of seafarers to global trade and the world economy and also highlights the challenges they face.
Capt Halbe further said that the life of a seafarer has changed vastly with ships’ stay in port reduced considerably, deepening their monotony. “This is further compounded by a host of rules and regulations, some with penal provisions for noncompliance, stricter environmental regimes. Despite the global Maritime Labour Convention being amended to facilitate shore leave for seafarers when the ships are in port, facilitating repatriation and embarkation of seafarers from and on ships, scant regard is being paid by all countries, including India,” he added.
He also said that as per estimation, the percentage of Indian seafarers in the global shipping industry is expected to rise to 20 per cent from around 10 per cent within the next ten years. “The total number of Indian seafarers has seen substantial growth, rising from around 108,000 in 2013 to approximately 250,000 in the last few years,” he informed.
