The Global Seafarer: Living and Working Conditions in a Globalized Industry

223 Pages·2003·5.88 MB·English

by  M., Michael, Thomas, Sampson, N., Michelle, Helen, Alderton, T., Bloor, Kahveci, E., Lane, Winchester, Wu, B. and Zhao

T
>r r-.
Living and working conditions
in a globalized industry
.Global
SEAFARER
Living and working conditions
in a globalized industry
International Labour Office
in collaboration with the
Seafarers International Research Centre
Contributing authors
T. Alderton, M. Bloor, E. Kahveci,
T. Lane, H. Sampson, M. Thomas,
N. Winchester, B. Wu and
M. Zhao
lllpll INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE • GENEVA
Copyright © International Labour Organization 2004
First published 2004
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CONTENTS
Abbreviations ix
Acknowledgements xüi
About the authors xv
Introduction 1
1 The political economy of world shipping 5
Introduction 5
Shipping and world trade 6
Ownership, organization and finance 10
Growth sectors; Containers and cruise 17
The rise of the ship-management company 19
Technological developments 22
Politics and shipping 25
2 Flag States and regulation 27
Introduction 27
FOCs and second registers 28
Regulatory regimes and practice 38
Flag State good practice 44
Regulatory regimes and labour issues 48
3 The labour market for seafarers 57
Introduction 57
The global labour market 57
Training and certification 81
Trade unions and collective bargaining 88
The global seafarer
4 Shipboard life and work - I 95
Shipboard society 95
Turnaround and voyage cycles 103
Wages and conditions of employment 109
5 Shipboard life and work - II 121
Food, diet and accommodation 121
Occupational safety 131
Occupational health 134
6 Seafarers' families 145
Introduction 145
Seafarers and their families 146
Health and safety 148
Social isolation aboard and ashore 150
Ship-shore communication 151
Company policies and their impact on family life 153
7 Sub-standard ships and abandoned seafarers 159
Introduction 159
Defining and identifying the sub-standard ship 160
Abandoned seafarers 165
Case notes from Sri Lanka, Tunisia and the United Kingdom 172
Case study: The OBO Basak 175
Towards global protection 182
Conclusion 189
Tables
1.1 Demolition and newbuilds, 1990-2000 8
1.2 Development of world merchant fleet, 1991-2001 8
1.3 Development of cruise shipping, 1980 and 1998 18
1.4 World's five largest cruise companies, 1999 19
2.1 Vessel numbers and gross tonnage of FOCs, 2001 31
2.2 Nationality of the five major open registry fleets, January 2001 32
2.3 Second registers, 2002 33
2.4 The 39 flag States that exceeded the average global detention rate, 1998 .... 36
2.5 Registries with losses exceeding the world average, 1998 37
2.6 Ratifications of IMO Conventions by flag States, 2002 40
vi
Contents
3.1 Seafarers'employment in selected countries, 1935 and 1965 59
3.2 Seafarers'employment in selected countries, 1968-92 59
3.3 Average crewing levels in selected ship types, 1993 and 1998 62
3.4 Crew nationalities aboard selected OECD fleets, 1993 and 1999 70
3.5 Selected seafarer nationalities and flags of employment, 1993 and 1999 70
3.6 Crew complaints handled by the ITF's Actions Department, 1998 92
4.1 Comparative turnaround times, 1970 and 1998 105
4.2 Average monthly wages of seafarers, 1996 Ill
4.3 The effect of rank on wages, 1996 112
4.4 Vessels under ITF agreements, by flag, 1998 115
5.1 Main categories of deficiencies per flag, 1997 128
5.2 Deficiencies recorded by the Paris MOU, 1996-99 129
5.3 Complaints by seafarers to port chaplains, 1994-99 130
7.1 Abandoned seafarers, 1999 168
7.2 Abandoned seafarers by ship type, 1999 171
7.3 Number of ships abandoned, by flag, 1999 172
Figures
1.1 International seaborne trade, 1970-2000 6
1.2 Annual change in OECD industrial production and world
seaborne trade, 1997-2000 7
2.1 World fleet/FOC fleet, 1990-2001 30
2.2 Percentage of world fleet registered under FOCs, 1990-2001 30
3.1 Swedish wage costs under different regimes, 1988 60
3.2 At-sea seafarer population, cargo ships, 1993-2000 61
3.3 Percentage distribution of seafarers by selected ship type, 2000 62
3.4 Age of British officers, 1968 and 1998 64
3.5 Age of British ratings, 1968 and 1998 64
3.6 Age of officers from China, the Philippines, Ukraine
and the United Kingdom, 1998 65
3.7 Age of ratings from China, the Philippines, Ukraine and
the United Kingdom, 1998 65
3.8 Passenger/crew ratios in cruise ships, 1999 67
3.9 Seafarers' origins by world region, all ranks, 2000 74
3.10 Top ten labour supply countries for senior and junior officers, 2002 74
3.1 la Mixed nationality crewing patterns by selected ship type, 1999 76
3.1 lb Mixed nationality crewing patterns across all ship types, 1999 76
vii
The global seafarer
4.1 Hours spent in Sandmouth by all ships, 1970 104
4.2 Hours spent in Sandmouth by all ships, 1998 105
4.3 Wage costs of ABs, selected nationalities, 1999 110
Boxes
1.1 Hyundai targets higher plain 10
1.2 Troubled Hong Kong shipping company lurches on 16
1.3 Shipping - Stay of execution? 17
3.1 Ship-management companies and their labour market tours 67
3.2 Anglo-Eastern moves into China! 69
3.3 The mixed nationality crews of the Cowiroro and the 71
3.4 Barber pushes Polish solution to manning 77
3.5 Rizal Park, Manila: A daily "labour market" 79
3.6 Corruption in Philippine maritime training schools 82
3.7 A cautionary tale 84
4.1 "To go ashore, you had to be super-human!" 106
4.2 Ports are "far away from anything" 107
4.3 "By the end, a certain madness attacks some crew members" 108
5.1 A British college's syllabus for ships' cooks 122
5.2 The near grounding of thetanker 133
5.3 "I could have quite easily jumped over the side" 139
7.1 Bid to cut disgrace of sub-standard ships 160
7.2 Europe urged to back port controls 163
7.3 Twenty-one [sic] Turkish seafarers abandoned in Dunkirk 178
viii
ABBREVIATIONS
AB Able seaman
BIMCO Baltic and International Maritime Council
BMI Body mass index
CIIPMET China, India, Indonesia and the Philippines maritime
education and training
CISD Critical incident stress debriefing
CSR Canary Islands Second Register
dB Decibels
DIS Danish International Ship Register
DTLR Department for Transport, Local Government and
the Regions
dwt Deadweight tonnage
ECG Electrocardiogram
EEA European Economic Area
EU European Union
FAS Faeroe Islands Second Register
FIR French International Ship Register
FOC Flag of convenience
FPC Fair Practices Committee
GATT General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
CIS German International Ship Register
GMDSS Global maritime distress and safety system
grt Registered gross tonnage
gt Gross tonnage
HIV Human immunodeficiency virus
ix
The global seafarer
HKSAR Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
IACS International Association of Classification Societies
ICFTU International Confederation of Free Trade Unions
ICS International Chamber of Shipping
1ER Institute of Employment Research
ILO International Labour Organization
IMA International Maritime Associates
IMEC International Maritime Employers' Committee
IMO International Maritime Organization
INMARSAT International Mobile Satellite Organization
ISF International Shipping Federation
ISL Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics
ISMA International Ship Managers' Association
[TF International Transport Workers' Federation
IUA International Underwriting Association of London
JAMRI Japan Maritime Research Institute
LISCR Liberian International Ship & Corporate Registry
LMIS Lloyd's Marine Intelligence Service
LPG Liquefied petroleum gas
MAIB Marine Accident Investigation Branch
MAR Madeira Second Register
MARCOM Maritime Communications
MCA Maritime and Coastguard Agency
MOU Memorandum of Understanding
NCL Norwegian Cruise Line
NIS Norwegian International Ship Register
NUMAST National Union of Marine Aviation and Shipping
Transport Officers
OBO ore/bulk/oil carrier
OCIMF Oil Companies International Maritime Forum
OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development
OS Ordinary seaman
PAH Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon
PLC Public limited company
PSC Port state control
x
Abbreviations
REB Registro Especial Brasileiro
Ro-ro Roll-on roll-off
SIRC Seafarers International Research Centre
SIRE Ship Inspection and Report Exchange
SOLAS Safety of Life at Sea Convention
SSD Special Seafarers' Department
STCW Standards of Training, Certification and
Watchkeeping
STD Sexually transmitted disease
TEU Twenty foot equivalent unit
TTC Total Crew Cost
ULCC Ultra large crude carrier
UNCLOS United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
UNCTAD United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development
VLCC Very large crude carrier
WMU World Maritime University
WTO World Trade Organization
Note: All mentions of dollars refer to the United States dollar.
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