Singapore meeting could herald seafarers’ aid upsurge
Meeting to explore possibility of four year programme of seafarers' welfare activities



A meeting beginning on Monday in Singapore is a regional first and could usher in a major injection of funds and resources into improving support for seafarers in South East Asia.

Assisted by the ITF’s Seafarers’ Trust and TK Shipping’s TK Foundation, the International Committee on Seafarers’ Welfare (ICSW) will hold a seminar at the NTUC Conference Facility, Singapore from 17 to 20 September that will test the possibility of instituting a four year programme to assess and then develop seafarers’ welfare activities.

The event will take place at the NTUC Conference facility at Downtown East Resort, 1
Pasir Ris Close, Singapore 519599, where a press conference will be held in the Aster 1 Room at 11:00 on Monday 17th. This will follow the opening ceremony – to which press are also welcome – which begins at 10:00 in the Cassia Room. Present at this event will be:

Lim Swee Say, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office of Singapore and Secretary-General of the National Trades Union Congress.
Archbishop Nicholas Chia, Archbishop of Singapore
The Bishop of Singapore, Dr John Chew
Kimberly Karlshoej, a Director of the TK Foundation
Jean-Yves Legouas from the ILO (International Labour Organization)
Bjorn Lodoen, ICSW Chairman and a Director of the Norwegian Maritime Directorate
(Local contact for this event is Andrew Elliot, ICSW Operations Manager on mobile phone
+44 7785 275 204, or at the Downtown East Hotel [tel 65891865] room number 1305. Alternatively contact Daniel Tan on 6222 5238.)

Following these two events delegates from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam will meet to discuss how best to:
• Promote seafarers’ welfare, in particular ILO Convention 163, Recommendation 173, and the Consolidated Maritime Convention;
• Assess the level of current seafarers’ welfare activities in the region;
• Encourage organisations to become members of the ICSW and participate in its international programmes;
• Develop a regional programme to strengthen seafarers’ welfare structure and services in South East Asia.

Tom Holmer, Secretary of the Seafarers’ Trust, the charity arm of the ITF, commented: “We could be on the brink of beginning the transformation of facilities in this region. If the many concerned parties gathering in Singapore this week will it then a major project will get underway with far reaching and, we hope, very positive consequences.”

“It is not uncommon for a seafarer never to set foot ashore for the whole period of his or her contract. Recent research has shown that they want and need visitors on board their ships. This seminar gives seafarers’ welfare workers, port authority officials, unions, churches and government officials a chance to mix and exchange views. Out of those discussions we hope a consensus will be reached that there is a need for a regional programme in this area of the world.”

He concluded: “In West Africa, Latin America and the former Soviet Union such programmes have managed to develop a network of seafarers’ centres and services that closely follow the needs they themselves have identified as the most important, such as transport and communication.”

After the opening ceremony and press conference the seminar will start with a two day course on ship visiting, then move on to look at the work of ICSW members and how the products and programmes might be transferred to the South East Asian context. On Tuesday the delegates will visit the Mariners’ Club, close to the entrance of Tanjong Pagar, and the Mission to Seafarers drop-in centre in Jurong Port, which offer two different ways of providing seafarers with a welcome.