Ardmore Shipping signs The Neptune Declaration to address seafarer crisis
Back to newsArdmore Shipping Corporation has signed The Neptune Declaration on Seafarer Wellbeing and Crew Change.
The Neptune Declaration is a global call to action to address the seafarer crisis, formed by Maritime Industry Crew Change Taskforce following initial discussions at the Global Maritime Forum’s Virtual High-Level Meeting in 2020.
The alliance, which spans many leading organisations from across the shipping industry, including the ICS, ITF and Global Maritime Forum, is calling for high quality health protocols, key worker status for seafarers and therefore COVID-19 vaccines, and collaboration between ship operators and charterers to facilitate crew changes.
To address the crisis, the declaration identifies the following main actions:
- Recognize seafarers as key workers and give them priority access to COVID-19 vaccines
- Establish and implement gold standard health protocols based on existing best practice
- Increase collaboration between ship operators and charterers to facilitate crew changes
- Ensure air connectivity between key maritime hubs for seafarers.
Mark. Cameron, COO of Ardmore Shipping, commented:
“At Ardmore, we recognise that seafarers are critical to our success and are on the front line of global trade. We saw how seafarers were impacted in 2020 with extended contracts, limited or no shore leave, lack of Wifi and contact with home, among many other different scenarios. We need a real solution and action to ensure we use our learnings from the past year to build a better, safer and more resilient supply chain that has seafarer wellbeing at its heart.
“We have a shared responsibility to care for international seafarers around the world. Signing the Neptune Declaration is a way we can help solve the international crew change crisis. Huge progress can be made with a collaborative response and this is essential to solving this crisis. We hope this declaration will not only encourage the shipping industry to act, but also enlist the vital support of wider stakeholders, from airlines to governments. It is time to make a difference together.” Read more about the Neptune Declaration here.