A day for engagement with Seafarers
This is a condensed version of original paper at wmu.academia.edu/jkmnair published on 22nd June 2020
Contents:
1.0 Introduction
2.0 IMO and its contributions to shipping
3.0 Seafarers Importance
4.0 Seafarers Day
5.0 What can you do on this day?
Annex 1
Photo Credits
References
Seafarers Day and DotS
Every year the international maritime industry celebrates one day, June 25, as the “Seafarers Day” in order to recognise the service given by the seafarers. This short paper gives an insight about the day and its importance to the shipping industry and the people who serve out at sea onboard our ships.
Author declares that this is only an informative article and no organisation or agency is responsible for the thoughts and suggestions given within this article. I have tried to give reference to all I have read at the end of the paper and request pardon in case any is missing out. Views expressed in this paper are my own personal ones and need not necessary be endorsed by any organization or agency. Let me also record my sincere thanks to the various organizations who provided the technical information and authors who helped me in preparing this paper. Abbreviations used are explained at the end.
1.0 Introduction
Every day we use millions of raw material and products for our domestic, agricultural and industrial purposes. Most of them are transported by ships and even the finished products and transported in and out through cargo liners, bulk carriers, oil tankers, gas tankers, chemical tankers etc. People also use passenger ships and cruise for travelling and leisure. These ships are manned by seafarers comprising of crew and officers.
International Maritime Organisation, called IMO has taken the responsibility to deal with matters regarding Maritime Industry and has started the celebration of this day, with the aim of recognising and appreciating the work done by the seafarers.
2.0 IMO and its contributions to shipping
Lot of work is done by IMO to mitigate and manage the fatigue of seafarers. The Maritime Safety Committee, MSC, circular MSC.1/circ.1598 dated 24 Jan 2019 gives guidelines to take care of fatigue/R2
IMO also had initiated work to suppress international terrorism by various conventions and has issued many guidelines to ship operations and port authorities. Readers are advised to refer to the Security Code document issued by IMO. Or my other articles you can reach just by googling my name <jkmnair> or <Jayakumar nair>.
4.0 Seafarers Day
The Council of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), meeting for its 102nd session in London on 29 June to 3 July 2009, agreed that next year's theme for World Maritime Day will be "2010: Year of the Seafarer",.
IMO earmarked the year 2010 as the “Year of the Seafarer” and there after every year this DotS is celebrated to support the seafarer through many campaigns internationally.
Main purpose was to recognize the unique contribution made by seafarers from all over the world to international seaborne trade, the world economy and civil society as a whole. This matched with the IMO campaign “Go to Sea” in order to attract more people to sea jobs. This campaign was launched during the year 2008 November in association with ILO. All these on-going steps actually contributed to a successful STCW convention in 2010.
The resolution "encourages Governments, shipping organizations, companies, shipowners and all other parties concerned to duly and appropriately promote the Day of the Seafarer and take action to celebrate it meaningfully". The Seafarers Day Resolution document is attached as Annex 1 to this paper.
This year special attention is given due to the epidemic virus Covid 19. Seafarers had to undergo more difficulties and hardship than ever.
Seafarers are the unsung heroes of the global crisis, transporting the food and essential foods we all need. They also face tremendous challenges, with thousands of them still stranded onboard ships./R 4/R7 We need to recognise them as key workers, so they can continue to transport essential cargo across the world and we need to ensure that they return home at the end of their contracts./R8
This year, the Day of the Seafarer campaign calls on Member States to recognize seafarers as key workers – and to provide them with the support, assistance and travel options open to all key workers during the pandemic.
The campaign encourages everyone to treat seafarers with the respect and dignity they deserve so that they can continue to provide their vital services to keep world trade moving. /R 8
Abbreviations used above:
IMO – International Maritime Organisation
SOLAS – Safety of Life at Sea
Marpol – Marine Pollution Prevention Regulations
Colreg – Collision Prevention Regulations and Rule of the Road.
IMLI - International Maritime Law Institute at Malta.
DotS – Day of the Seafarer
STCW - Standards of Training, Certification and Watch Keeping (Regulations and Code)
ILO – International Labor Organisation.
*Annex 1. Pls see original document at wmu.academia.edu/jkmnair
STCW/CONF.2/DC/4
Resolution 19 Day of the Seafarer
References and photo credits
Front page photo : youtube.com
IMO website
https://www.un.org/en/events/seafarerday/dayoftheseafarer-res19.pdf
http://dayoftheseafarer2016.imo.org/
R 1. Caution on High Seas – Are you an Addict, J K M Nair , 2019.
R 2. Fatigue thoughts and IMO , By J K M Nair https://academia.edu/jkmnair 21 March 2019
R 3. J K M Nair speaks on Maritime safety and poln prevention www.academia.edu/jkmnair
R 4. IMO and Seaferers Day 2012
R 5. Website www.imo.org
R 6. https://www.youtube.com/user/IMOHQ about career at sea
R 7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDu9yvQWhrY dealing with covid 19
R 8. IMO - #SeafarersAreKeyWorkers
R 9. https://www.shippingandfreightresource.com/un-agencies-driven-intervention-saves-seafarers-life/
R 10. http://www.imo.org/en/MediaCentre/HotTopics/Pages/FAQ-on-crew-changes-and-repatriation-of-seafarers.aspx
R 11. https://www.dma.dk/Presse/Nyheder/Sider/DayOfTheSeafarerWomenShipping.aspx
R 12. http://maritime-connector.com/news/general/contributions-of-seafarers-to-the-global-economy/
Short biodata of Author:
Shri J K M Nair is a well-known personality in the field of maritime and management training. Shri Nair is currently the Director and CEO of Training $olutions International; a training commitment to individuals, organisations and business houses. He is respected as an expert in many fields of management, training and HRD, and engineering subjects. He is also advisor and member of ABM for the HIMT Group of Institutions and Mentor to Sterling Institutions. He is also the founder trustee to Marine Educational Trust managed institutions.
A luminary in training circles and with, more than four decades of professional experience, he is a doyen in many special areas including Marine Engineering, Human Resource Development, Safety Engineering, Training Systems, Management Development, IT, Maritime Affairs, Quality systems, Human Factors, psychology, Emotional Intelligence, Artificial intelligence and subjects like leadership, motivation and other HR, HRD, HRM subjects and further on to philosophy.
Member of many professional bodies including ISTD, Institute of Marine Engineers, Institute of Engineers India, I Mech E, WMU- India Chapter as the founder secretary, LPA etc. He also wore the hat of ‘Editor’ of MER for 2 years and then on its board of editors for another two years. He was also heading the STCW 2010 implementation committee of Indian Administration in its initial phase.
He has authored many technical and management papers and has conducted many executive development programs. He has also published many technical and managerial books.
A gold medallist and many awards Shri Nair is respectfully known as the Bheeshmacharya in maritime and training circles.
48 years of service and continuing with his support and guidance to the industry. He is also trustee to Collage of Ship Technology CST/MCT projects group as their Patron.
Contact mail: jkmnair@gmail.com or trgsolutions.international@gmail.com
