Seamen's House

Huug
Beheerder
Berichten: 1991
Lid geworden op: do 08 jan 2009, 15:41
Locatie: Arkel

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Afbeelding

Afbeelding

Afbeelding

Afbeelding

Vandaag de 21ste juli te Moerdijk Haven.
Caelum non animum mutant, qui trans mare currunt

Afbeelding

Huug
Jan van der Doe
Berichten: 1371
Lid geworden op: vr 09 jan 2009, 14:19
Locatie: Fergus, ON. Canada

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Slavery Scandal Tests Thailand Legal System
BY MAREX

The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) has described Thailand as being ‘on trial’ for allowing a company to prosecute a human rights defender who exposed modern day slavery in its canned fruit and fishing industry. The ITF is demanding that charges against Andy Hall, a UK citizen who is due to stand trial in September on charges of criminal defamation, be dropped.

The criminal and civil cases were brought against Andy Hall by Thailand’s Natural Fruit Company following his research into the company’s operations for the report Cheap Has a High Price, published by the Finnwatch NGO (http://www.finnwatch.org). That report exposed smuggling of migrant workers along with the use of child labor, forced overtime and violence against workers.

ITF acting general secretary Steve Cotton stated: “Andy Hall’s investigations into the fruit and fish industries in Thailand helped expose shocking abuses there to a worldwide audience. He should be praised, not prosecuted. Thailand’s attorney general must act now to disallow this case, which is an example of blatant victimization of someone for no greater crime than telling an unacceptable truth.”

He continued: “This legal case attempts to shoot the messenger and leave the true offender untouched. Thailand must address the unforgiveable abuses being allowed to take place on its lands and waters, and also ensure the right to freedom of opinion.”

ITF president Paddy Crumlin added: “Thailand itself is on trial. Its failure to act has rightly led to it being downgraded by the US government over human trafficking. If ever a country needed to allow defenders of human rights to identify problems, it’s this one. This impending trial is a national and international embarrassment and should be called off immediately.”

The ITF believes that Thailand should:
• Ratify and implement ILO conventions 87 and 98, respecting workers’ fundamental rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining
• Ratify and implement ILO Work in Fishing Convention No. 188
• Ensure that all companies operating in Thailand and benefiting from Thai resources and employment markets work constructively with trade unions and workers’ organizations
Hartelijke Groet/Kind regards.

Jan van der Doe.

Varen is noodzakelijk, leven niet.
Jan van der Doe
Berichten: 1371
Lid geworden op: vr 09 jan 2009, 14:19
Locatie: Fergus, ON. Canada

Re: Seamen's House

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Focus On Present and Future Seafarers: The Effects of MLC

Friday, September 12, 2014

Seafarers play a vital role in the global economy of the future as well as in the global maritime industry. A healthy and safe work environment must secure a continuous stable influx to the industry.

Shipowners are employing people from all over the world in an industry that operates globally and does not know the concept of country borders.

The global nature of the maritime sector puts great demands on the shipping companies to ensure a safe and healthy work environment for all seafarers – no matter where they come from and where they set sail. It is the seafarers on board the ships that ensure the shipping industry's dominance in World trade.

Seafarers in focus

That is why the United Federation of Danish Workers; CO-SEA; and the Danish Shipowners’ Association in collaboration with the Danish Maritime Authority will be focusing on working conditions in the global maritime industry at the conference “Conference on the Seafarer as part of Global Quality Shipping”. The conference is part of Danish Maritime Days and takes place on October 6.

“Seafarers play a crucial role in the global economy and in the international shipping industry. We have to ensure that the next generation of seafarers have attractive working conditions at sea. We need to make sure that we have safe and healthy work environments at sea, to make young people choose a maritime career out of passion and in the expectations that the maritime sector is a place where they can have a fruitful career, which will utilize their full potential,” said the organizers behind the event.

MLC in the real world

An important step towards a more healthy and safe work environment in the global maritime cluster was taken with the ratification of the Maritime Labor Convention (MLC) of 2006.

The MLC entered into force in august 2013; the “Conference on the Seafarer as part of Global Quality Shipping” will look at what has happened in the year that has passed since ratification.

“The ILO-convention regarding the working conditions of the seafarers (MLC 2006) is a unique accomplishment that combines no less than 37 ILO-conventions and corresponding recommendations in just one set of rules. The MLC-convention is shaped uniquely for the shipping industry, making it the only business sector in the world that has a shared international framework dealing with all aspects of employment,” the organizers conclude.

“But the MLC-convention only offers a framework that we jointly have to comply with, realizing the quality objectives that the rules express. It is actual MLC compliance on board of the ships and in the shipping companies that is the heart of the matter,” the organizers add and point out that the conference will have the practical implementation of MLC in focus.

danishmaritimedays.com
Hartelijke Groet/Kind regards.

Jan van der Doe.

Varen is noodzakelijk, leven niet.
Jan van der Doe
Berichten: 1371
Lid geworden op: vr 09 jan 2009, 14:19
Locatie: Fergus, ON. Canada

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Seamen’s Church Interviews MV Iceberg 1 Piracy Survivors
BY GCAPTAIN ON SEPTEMBER 16, 2014

The Seamen’s Church Institute’s (SCI) Douglas B. Stevenson, Director of SCI’s Center for Seafarers’ Rights, recently sat down with former hostages from the MV Iceberg 1 in Accra, Ghana to hear about their experiences and how they find life two years after their release from Somali pirates.

The Panama-flagged MV Iceberg I was hijacked by pirates in March 29, 2010 while sailing off the coast of Yemen with 24 crewmembers.

After the hijacking, the pirates sailed the ship back to the Somali coast where they held the crew for 2 years and 9 months, the longest any crew has been held by Somali pirates. The hostages were only freed during a raid by the Puntland Marine Police Force in December 2012 after having been abandoned by the shipowner, Dubai-based Azul Shipping, which had gone out of business shortly after the initial hijacking.

Unfortunately for the hostages, however, their captivity and release from the pirate hellhole was just part of the story.

In the series of interviews, crewmembers from the Iceberg I speak of the incidents with unambiguous detail, including the torture, starvation, violence and abandonment faced at the hands of Somali pirates and the challenges they continue to face almost two years after their release.

SCI also reminds us that although the number of attacks in the Gulf of Aden and off the coast of Somalia has decreased since 2011, seafarers and their families continue to deal with the aftermath of hijackings. The men from the Iceberg 1 number among the over 5,000 seafarers pirates have captured and held hostage since 2007.

To this day, SCI notes that the question “What happens to seafarers after pirate attacks?” remains largely unanswered. While SCI has attempted to bring this problem to light for many years, many seafarers find little help and recourse years after the incidents and how they cope with life post-piracy and what care they receive when repatriated remains largely undocumented.

The full series of interviews with the MV Iceberg 1 crew and other piracy survivors can be found on YouTube at http://smschur.ch/sep14voices or you can scroll through the playlist below.

http://youtu.be/alh1rKOWrMI
Hartelijke Groet/Kind regards.

Jan van der Doe.

Varen is noodzakelijk, leven niet.
Jan van der Doe
Berichten: 1371
Lid geworden op: vr 09 jan 2009, 14:19
Locatie: Fergus, ON. Canada

Re: Seamen's House

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When ships sail into Cleveland, Seamen's Service knows how to shout 'Ahoy!'

9/17 - Cleveland, Ohio – When the Polish freighter Mamry steamed in to Cleveland Harbor early Wednesday, its captain and crew had been on the water 11 straight days. They left high seas in the North Atlantic for round-the-clock shifts through the locks of the St. Lawrence Seaway.

Now a city of shiny glass buildings and stately towers – plus restaurants and dance clubs – rose enticingly close. Jim Clark made sure the sailors knew they were welcome.

Wearing a bright orange vest that lets him move about the Port of Cleveland, Clark climbed a steep gangplank and followed an escort to the captain's quarters, where he delivered news of free Wi-Fi, postcards and directions, available at his office a short walk away.

And that stadium looming to port? American football would be played there on Sunday, he said.

"Cleveland Browns?" Capt. Sylvester Kacrzarksi asked in thickly accented English. "Maybe there is time enough this time."

That encounter, a version of which unfolds every few days during the shipping season, ranks among the little known but much appreciated protocols on the lakefront.

Clark, 65, is president of the Cleveland Seamen's Service, an institution about as familiar to visiting seafarers as a Lake Erie lighthouse.

The all-volunteer group greets foreign ships and their sailors and helps them to make the most of their port-of-call. The service turned 50 years old this month, making it one of the oldest private seamen services on the continent--and one of only two still holding out a lamp on the Great Lakes.

Its relevancy was quickly validated by younger members of the Mamry crew, who followed Clark across the docks to the Seamen's Service office--a modest, box-like building with a crow's nest at the edge of the port, in the shadow of FirstEnergy Stadium.

They wanted to talk to wives and children and girlfriends via the Internet. They wanted directions to a "disco club." They wanted the bus to Walmart.

"Some of us are interested in American football," said Marek Paszcuk, the first mate in a crew of 20. "How much the tickets?"

Clark grimaced.

"You know," he brightened, "we have a baseball team playing, too."

At its birth in 1964, the Seamen's Service shepherded a larger flock. Foreign ships called upon Cleveland more frequently in the early days of the Seaway, sending their sailors into the city for several days, sometimes a week at a time.

Accustomed to bigger ocean ports, the sailors often struggled do find someone who spoke their language or cooked their food. Claire MacMurray Howard, a popular columnist for The Plain Dealer, noticed that many never ventured beyond the dim taverns of the Flats.

She founded the Cleveland Seamen's Service to connect the sailors to the city, modeling it after seamen services found in ocean ports around the world.

According to historical accounts, the city embraced her concept. MacMurray Howard mustered a force of 300 volunteers, men and women who guided captains and crew to ethnic markets, soccer games, bowling alleys and cultural dances.

Veteran members say she was passionate about her goal of making Cleveland renowned as the "friendliest port in the world."

The challenge has changed but the quest remains much the same.

Today, larger ships arrive with smaller crews for shorter stays. The port sees two to three ocean ships a week from May to December. They unload quickly, with their own cranes, and are often gone in a day or two.

Still, that's time enough to dash to the store, Skype home, enjoy a good meal and even catch a ball game. That's time enough to feel welcomed.

"We are the face of Cleveland to the international visitors," said Rita Clark, a volunteer for 17 years. "We want to welcome them to our city."

The Cleveland Seamen's Service counts 21 active members, including Jim and Rita Clark of Brecksville. Most are retirees but the ranks also include young professionals and downtown office workers.

The group would love to add some speakers of Polish, Ukrainian and Tagalog, the language of the Philippines. That would linguistically cover most of the sailors sailing in on the Seaway, Clark said.

But when phrasebooks fail, English and pantomime are often enough. Many of the ships return year after year and the crews become familiar.

Maggie Wendel had the duty when a sailor she knew visited the office to talk with his family via the Internet. He had Wendel say hello to his daughter.

"The most important thing for the sailors is their families," said Wendel, a retired Euclid social worker. "Then comes the sightseeing and the shopping."

She joined the service 45 years ago, hoping to reconnect with her German roots among German ships. As the longest-serving member, she has plenty of stories of sailors and their misadventures.

Those tales shine more vividly these days, as the group marks a half-century on the waterfront with celebrations like a birthday party Saturday at Pier W in Lakewood.

Reminiscing at the Seamen's Service office last week, Gisela Luck recalled the Burmese sailors who sought to defect one day in the 1990s.

"They walked in here, seven of them," she recalled. "Only one of them spoke English."

She said they were upset not with their dictatorial government but with the ship's food; that, and lousy working conditions.

Luck called the port authority, which alerted an immigration agent, who arrived with a burly stevedore. She said she'll never forget how the pair convinced the Burmese sailors to jump ship in Montreal instead.

"Now, it's totally different," she said. "You go on a ship, the kitchen is spic and span. They serve fabulous food."

The happier sailors tend to have less time to explore the city. But if a window of opportunity opens, the Seamen's Service is ready to guide or to give a ride.

When he boarded the Mamry, Clark had in his hand a sheet listing information handy to sailors on leave; like where to find a hair cut, wire money or buy electronics. He could offer discount admission to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and game times.

A window opened wider. The Mamry had no sooner begun unloading its steel coils from Holland than the rains began, forcing the captain to close the massive hatches that cover the hold.

His mobile phone gave a shrill ring. It was the shipping agent with a weather report. It would likely rain steady for a few days, forcing the ship to stay in port through the weekend.

Capt. Kacrzarksi turned to Clark. "American football," he asked, "How much are the tickets?"

Cleveland.com
Hartelijke Groet/Kind regards.

Jan van der Doe.

Varen is noodzakelijk, leven niet.
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