seafarertimes.com ~ Maritime News for Filipino Seafarers

Seafarers have a right ‘to stop working, leave ships and return home’
Anatassio Adamopoulos 05 Oct 2020

The International Transport Workers’ Federation said that it would be coming down hard on those targeting seafarers who speak up against contract extensions .... (login to continue... https://lloydslist.maritimeintelligence.informa.com/LL1134141/Seafarers-...)

Mental Health Support & Solutions: Fake news heightens seafarer anxiety
October 5, 2020 https://splash247.com/mental-health-support-solutions-fake-news-heighten...

Fake news and misinformation about the impact of Covid-19, exacerbated by social media usage, could be seriously impacting seafarers’ mental health and the industry needs to tackle the root cause before it gets much worse.

Workers stranded on container ship to be repatriated
Alex Cooke · Oct 05, 2020 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/workers-stuck-on-container-sh...

Some crew members will be able to go home after visits to Palm Beach on Oct. 10 and 23

Seven international workers who have been stuck on board a container ship for more than a year will be repatriated Saturday, according to an inspector with the International Transport Workers' Federation.

Declare seafarers as regular employees, not merely contractual ones
ATTY. DENNIS GORECHO | October 06,2020 https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/344044/declare-seafarers-as-regular-e...

The Makabayan Bloc in Congress, through House Bill 6588, is pushing for job security for seafarers through regularization of their employment status.

Seafarers to have dedicated molecular laboratory
Hanah Tabios October 5, 2020 https://mb.com.ph/2020/10/05/seafarers-to-have-dedicated-molecular-labor...

Key officials of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) spearheaded the formal commissioning of the PPA’s reverse transcription—polymerase chain reaction (rT-PCR) molecular testing laboratory Monday.

WA ship crew member’s negative COVID test
AAP Newswire 4 Oct 2020 https://www.denipt.com.au/national/2020/10/04/1701542/wa-ship-crew-membe...

A crew member from a cargo ship docked at Fremantle Port has tested negative to COVID-19, West Australian authorities have confirmed.

The crew member aboard the Kota Legit vessel was tested after it emerged they had been unwell while the ship was at sea, WA Health said on Sunday.

IMO site back up while CMA CGM struggles to get back online
Sam Chambers October 5, 2020 https://splash247.com/imo-site-back-up-while-cma-cgm-struggles-to-get-ba...

CMA CGM’s eBusiness website remains down one week on from a ransomware attack, while the website of the United Nations agency, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), is back up and running, having been the victim of a cyber attack on Wednesday.

Culture of coercion at sea in the spotlight
Sam Chambers October 5, 2020 https://seafarertimes.com/2020-21/node#overlay=node/add/article

400,000 seafarers around the world stuck on board ships
G. Dunkel October 2, 2020 https://www.workers.org/2020/10/51662/

An unjust hardship faces 800,000 workers worldwide. Some 400,000 seafarers whose work contracts have expired are still stuck on their ships in the COVID-19 pandemic. Another 400,000 workers are stuck on shore, unemployed, waiting to replace the workers on the ships.

Australia's maritime union warns shipping practices risk importing COVID-19 to community
2020-10-02 http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-10/02/c_139413876.htm

SYDNEY, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) has warned that the country is at serious risk of ships arriving from COVID-19 hotspots and spreading the virus into the community through contact with port staff.