Ships’ crews suffer under flag of convenience

IT is estimated that during 2007 the value of Irish exports will be about €91 billion and imports will be around €64bn.

More than 98% of the goods concerned will be transported through our ports.

There are fewer than 100 cargo vessels beneficially owned in Ireland operating either under our national flag. Most of these ships are of the smaller coastal variety. Thus, the vast bulk of our exports and imports have to be carried by foreign owned and flagged ships.

Traditionally, a ship is regarded as part of the sovereign territory of the country in which it is registered and flagged. While the authorities in each country the ship visits have a role in enforcing certain health and safety and anti-pollution regulations, the responsibility for matters such as social conditions for crew, pay and terms of employment, etc, is technically up to the authorities in the country in which the ship is registered, and under whose flag it operates.

Unfortunately, much of the international shipping industry uses the flag of convenience (FoC) system. This is where the shipping company deliberately chooses not to register its ship in its own country, or even where its business is based. It chooses instead to register in a country which has, among other advantages, little or nothing on its statute books regarding worker protection legalisation and often has little regard for International Labour Organisation (ILO) maritime conventions.

Even if the chosen country has worker protection/safety laws and has ratified ILO conventions, it is often too poor and/or too remote from the operational area of the ship to enforce anything.

The result is that the ship owner is free to pay minimal wages and to cut costs by lowering the standard of working and living conditions of the crew. Often, the basic civil and human rights taken for granted in this part of the world are denied to the crew.

More than one-third of all ships which operate in Irish ports are doing so under the FoC system. Thankfully, though, trade unions affiliated to the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), including SIPTU, in Ireland, have good trade union agreements on about half of these ships, which set minimum standards of pay and conditions for the crews.

Unfortunately, the manpower and resources available for this work is well short of what is required in terms of both policing the agreements and pursuing the formidable task of tackling the remaining ships still operating here without agreements.

The reality, therefore, is that there are still many ships coming and going through our ports, transporting goods worth between €24bn-€30bn per annum. Many of these ships’ crews are often mistreated, have miserable pay and conditions and are denied their rights and entitlements.

The sad thing is that this can be allowed to happen in a country like Ireland, which has some good worker protection legalisation — and we like to claim these laws apply to all workers, irrespective of who they are or where they come from.

If there was more political and public support, and if Irish importers and exporters were more discerning about the shipping companies they use, much more could be achieved.

Tony Ayton

International TransportWorkers’ Federation

Connolly Hall

Summerhill

Waterford