A Florida court has fined Princess Cruise Lines and its owner Carnival Cruise Lines a further USD20 million for breaking pollution laws.
A record number of migrants and asylum-seekers were picked up from small boats attempting to make the perilous crossing of the English Channel to reach Britain on just one day.
The ITF plays a major role in helping seafarers to recover wages owed to them when they are at the sharp end of poor treatment by shipowners.
The ITF has been successful in winning back pay for 12 seafarers left stranded off the coast of Tunisia for 13 months and helping them to get home.
The British government is to introduce legislation to extend the UK’s national minimum wage to seafarers working between UK ports and offshore energy installations. The national minimum wage is currently GBP8.21 per hour for over-25s, with lower rates for under-25s
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) hosted a recent symposium on maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea aimed at tackling the continuing high level of piracy and armed robbery in the region.
The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has warned that the Mediterranean “will be a sea of blood” unless there is intervention to prevent shipwrecks and drownings of migrants and refugees attempting the sea crossing into Europe.
Two marine tankers, the Marshall Islands-flagged Front Altair and the Panamanian-flagged Kokuka Courageous, were left abandoned and adrift after what appear to be attacks on the vessels while transiting the Gulf of Oman.
In the Gulf of Guinea, piracy and armed robbery have been long-standing problems, but in recent years the frequency of attacks is increasing in this region. The severity of this issue and the treatment of the crews is worsening, with ruthless and inhumane acts of violence.
Despite the name, the National Union of Seafarers Sri Lanka (NUSS) is not just for seafarers.
Since 2018 the NUSS has been organising informal dockworkers and fishers, contract logistics workers and, most recently, self-employed taxi drivers.
