The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) has condemned another sharp escalation in attacks on merchant shipping and transport workers on two fronts – the US-Iran war and the Russia-Ukraine war – warning that civilian seafarers and other transport workers are being killed and injured in wars they have no part in.
In the Strait of Hormuz, oil tankers Mombasa B and Al Bahiyah were struck while transiting the Strait’s southern route, killing one seafarer and leaving others injured, while a seafarer remains missing following a separate attack on the M/V GFS Galaxy. At the same time, merchant vessels in the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea have also been struck in the last week amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, prompting a full suspension of shipping in the Sea of Azov.
The dangers faced by workers caught up in the US-Iran war is again spreading well beyond seafarers, with airport, road transport, fishing and port workers across both warzones at grave risk as the conflict intensifies.
Stephen Cotton, ITF General Secretary, said: “The ITF and all our seafarer union affiliates are deeply concerned about the tragic and shameful attacks on merchant shipping in the last week. Together, we express our deep sadness for the Indian seafarer killed in last night’s attack on the Mombasa B, our hope that the missing Indian seafarer from the M/V GFS Galaxy is found alive, and we send our support to all those injured in these attacks.
“The escalation in conflict that we are now sadly seeing take place near the Strait of Hormuz is once again costing the lives of innocent seafarers, and it must end now. And as attacks increase across countries in the region, transport workers are once again being pulled into this conflict that is not of their making – workers at airports, workers driving trucks, fishers, port workers and many more are all at grave risk.
“Many merchant ships in the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea have also been struck in the past week, leading to a suspension of all shipping in the Sea of Azov, while the Port of Odesa is also under severe attack. Here too, as in recent months, we fear the loss of innocent civilian seafarers’ lives.”
The ITF is calling on all parties in the Middle East and in the Russia-Ukraine war alike to guarantee safe passage for civilian shipping and to bring an immediate end to attacks on transport workers.
“Whatever the conflict, wherever it is, civilian transport workers must be protected,” said Cotton. “We see great concern for the cost of fuel, for how these conflicts affect inflation and our economies – but let’s remember that it is transport workers who join the economic dots and keep our world moving forward. Without them, it all falls apart.
“We call on all sides in all these conflicts to immediately stop attacks on transport workers, to deescalate and return to diplomacy immediately.”