Crew change crisis has shown the best of unions and employers, ITF official insists

The outlooks, forecasts and predictions for 2020 which were compiled at the end of last year now look like they were made in another age and on another planet. So what has the remainder of this most unusual year got in store for the industry?

First and foremost, shipowners and their insurers will very likely face claims from seafarers

MUA said massive underpayment of wages was discovered when the vessel docked in Brisbane earlier in July, and although the crew was paid the $93,000 they were owed, once the vessel left port the Burmese seafarers were allegedly intimidated by ship officers to hand back the wages in question to shipmanagement

With 300,000 crew still stranded at sea amid tightening crew change policies, the risk is rising that they will refuse to renew their contracts

The unions said they expected the government to improve the current policy and advocate the appropriate crew change in Hong Kong under the principle of securing public health and safety

Disembarked Burmese crew are now said to be stranded in Brisbane due to the lack of flights to Myanmar, with all expenses covered by the shipowner and shipmanager

South Korea has been conducting onboard quarantine checks of Russian ships arriving in Busan ports since late June

The vessel left Kanda in Japan on July 23 and reached Zhoushan three days later

Seafarers can download a free, web-based wallet to monitor and track their health status, which developers say mirrors UN protocols

Health experts and mindfulness coaches have contributed to a new series of videos aimed at helping seafarers cope during the coronavirus pandemic

Nearly a month on from a UK-led summit aimed at finding an international solution to the issue of crew changes, there has been little in the way of forward progress and some countries have tightened rules again as new coronavirus cases emerge