This Day of the Seafarer podcast brings together Andrew Stephens of the Sustainable Shipping Initiative (SSI), and Simon Bennett of Swire Shipping to reflect on the ongoing maritime crew change crisis and wider human rights issues among the world’s 1.6 million seafarers.

In conversation with IHRB’s Francesa Fairbairn, they discuss the impact on seafarers of being unable to disembark ships, sometimes for many months beyond the end of their contract, due to national government-imposed COVID port restrictions. A former seafarer, Simon Bennett emphasises the actions that need to be taken to ensure their wellbeing at sea – such as increasing connectivity for better contact with loved ones.

Andrew and Simon also discuss the development of an upcoming industry Code of Conduct (CoC) and accompanying implementation tools, an initiative between IHRB, SSI and Rafto Foundation, with Simon among a number of industry stakeholders on the Working Group. This project sees charterers, shipowners and operators come together to address the wider underlying and systemic issues creating labour and human rights risks for seafarers worldwide.

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