“Merchant Shipping needs safe Corridors”

Over the past two years, the coronavirus has clearly shown us how correlative and fragile global trade and supply chains are. Anyone who would have thought that, despite the ongoing effects of the pandemic, something like normality is on the horizon, was proven wrong on 24 February. With the Russian attack on Ukraine, ignoring and violating international law, a new crisis of global dimension followed seamlessly.

The human tragedy of this war can hardly be imagined. And from a merchant shipping perspective, it is once again the seafarers who are facing the full brunt. This was already the case during the pandemic. While borders were closed and many of us were able to continue working in a protected environment, they kept the global supply chains running and were often unable to return home after being employed on board due to travel and quarantine restrictions, some of which still exist. Nevertheless, they have done their job professionally and deserve our full support.

Sanctions Team ensures full Compliance

The company is committed to adhere to and operate at the highest levels of diligence and transparency in connection with all sanction regulations by the EU, US, UK and UN authorities applicable to the company and its activities. BSM has formed a dedicated sanctions team to track and review the multitudinous and ever-changing trade and economic restrictions. Very precise sanctions checks are carried out, for which we also use special tracking software. Furthermore, we seek advice from governments and industry associations as well as specialised lawyers to ensure that our operations are in full compliance with all restrictions. The impact on payments is a particular challenge. Our wages account departments work relentlessly on ensuring that seafarers receive their pay in a compliant way, despite limited access and restricted payment systems.

It is obvious that the changing global political order – or disorder – is bringing about significant upheaval in trade relations and thus routes. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is just one example: the demand is growing rapidly, especially in Europe. But many coastal countries still lack import facilities, which in turn drives up demand for floating storage regasification units (FSRU) available at short notice. However, it is doubtful whether global production facilities will be able to meet the increasing demand, even though countries such as Qatar, the US or Mozambique have announced their intention to expand the capacities of their liquefaction plants, but this will take years.

Pressure on Availability of skilled Seafarers

BSM is well-positioned in the market with access to a large pool of 20,000 seafarers from 80 different countries. Our worldwide network of 25 Crew Service Centres have taken all necessary measures to mitigate the impact on crewing supply and crew changes. These include actions to ensure the availability of crew for manning and the mobility of seafarers which is affected by flight and travel restrictions related to the Ukraine conflict. Nevertheless, a sustainable solution must be found.

Therefore, I support the efforts of the International Transport Workers` Federation (ITF), the Ukrainian Maritime Transport Workers' Union and international shipping companies` associations to advance a solution to the travel restrictions on Ukrainian seafarers. The Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine has prepared an initial draft for amended legislations, according to which sailors would be able to cross the border on their way to work on ships, which has not been adopted. We would highly appreciate this decision.