ITF Seafarers and Dockers Sections were vocal in their support for ver.di dock workers when unions met in London in early July. Maritime unions are mobilizing support for German ITF affiliate ver.di as the union battles port companies for an inflation-proof pay deal covering 12,000 dock workers.

Union leaders gathered in London expressed their solidarity with Germany’s dockers following recent strike action. ver.di is pushing for an annual, automatic inflation adjustment to be inserted into a renewed collective agreement with 58 ports and terminals.

“Rising prices for essential living expenses such as energy and food have become an unsustainable burden on German workers, especially for those lower paid workers,” said head of ver.di’s Maritime Section, Maya Schwiegershausen-Güth.

She said the employers, represented by the Central Association of German Seaport Companies (ZDS), have so far rejected the principle of inflation protection in talks with the union.

“These port companies plan to leave their staff alone to deal with the consequences of rising prices. They are willing to see dockers’ wages go backwards, eaten away by inflation. We cannot accept this, especially after all that dock workers have done for the employers and the common good.”

“Throughout the pandemic, dock workers have shown extraordinary commitment to their employers and to the German economy. For more than two years they have put up with family-impacting flexible work schedules, longer working hours, and rising workloads. Under all this pressure, dock workers have sacrificed,” said Schwiegershausen-Güth.

Now it was time for employers to recognize these efforts through a fair pay agreement, she said. “All of the employers and politicians who heaped praise on key workers during the pandemic should now be vocal in supporting our claim for fair inflation protection.”

“Appreciation without renumeration is meaningless – nice words will not pay the rent,” she added.

Inflation protection: Industry norm

ITF Dockers’ Section vice-chair Niek Stam said ITF and ETF dockers’ unions representing more than 500,000 workers were united in their support for ver.di as it sought an inflation-proof pay deal.

“What the German dockers are pushing for is not unreasonable, nor is it uncommon in our industry. All workers have a right to protect the wages that they bargain for from inflation,”

Stam, who is also leader of Dutch dockers’ union FNV Havens, said automatic inflation adjustment mechanisms had existed for decades in competitive ports’ agreements, such as those in Rotterdam and Antwerp.

“The shipping, port and gas companies are making record profits, pushing up prices for everyone else. They are the ones causing much of this inflation, not the workers. So why should the workers be punished for it?” he asked.

“Dockers move the world – we do not go backwards. We stand with our ver.di sisters and brothers.”

Source: https://maritimefairtrade.org/german-dock-workers-strike-for-inflation-protection/

At least 17 individuals lost their lives after a boat believed to be having dozens of migrants from Haiti capsized off the Bahamas while on the way to Florida on Sunday.

A 30-foot boat had almost 60 people. It sank in the waters off the New Providence Island at about 1 a.m. local time, Bahamian officials mentioned during a news briefing.

Relevant authorities detained two Bahamians who were thrown from the boat. They face manslaughter and human smuggling charges, officials reported. They were two of the 25 people that the rescuers discovered were latching onto the sinking boat.

Of the 17 people who died, one was male while 16 were female, reported Aubynette Rolle, the MD of the Bahamas’ Public Hospitals Authority. There was a child around the age of 4 or 5 years.

A rise in the number of Haitian migrants over the recent years has attempted to travel by sea to Florida and Puerto Rico. Immigration lawyers and researchers have to say that the migrants could be fleeing the ongoing economic and political turmoil in Haiti.

A year after the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021, gang violence worsened. Haiti has gone into a freefall that has witnessed the fall of the economy.

Trials to form a coalition government have faltered. Similarly, efforts to hold general elections have also stalled. The ongoing turmoil has led a growing number of individuals to flee Haiti, which comprises more than 11 million in the search for a safer and better life.

Several sinking cases involving migrants have taken place in the Caribbean waters this year, including one in May 2022, in which 11 individuals were declared dead and 38 were rescued from Puerto Rico.

One more incident in January 2022 saw a man being rescued and another being confirmed dead after a boat that had 40 migrants reportedly sank off Florida. The missing were never found.

Governments in the region, including the US, have reported a rise in the number of Haitians detained when attempting to enter other nations.

References: France24, DailyTimes

The U.S. Navy sees its future fleet comprised of more than 350 manned ships and about 150 unmanned ships hoping technology means lower operating costs as it prepares to counter a growing Chinese fleet, according to a Navy report released Tuesday.

The plan for the 2040s and beyond underscored “the need to address long-term competition with China and sustain military advantage against Russia”. It forecasts fleet numbers up slightly from a 2021 Navy long-range shipbuilding plan which had a range of 321 to 372 manned ships and 77 to 140 large unmanned vessels.

Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc and General Dynamics Corp are the largest shipbuilders in the United States with other weapons makers like Boeing Co working on unmanned ships programs.

Today the Navy has 298 ships in its “battle force” which ignores scores of resupply and logistics ships.

The Navy’s proposed fiscal year 2023 budget requested $27.9 billion in shipbuilding funding for eight new ships, including two Virginia class attack submarines, two Arleigh Burke destroyers, and one Constellation frigate.

The U.S. Congress is working to add ships to the Navy’s fleet.

Source: https://www.marinelink.com/news/us-navy-boost-aspirations-unmanned-fleet-498306

A district court in Batam, Indonesia has issued a seven-year jail sentence for the master of the workboat Cramoil Equity for entering Indonesian waters with barrels of hazardous liquid waste.

In mid-June 2021, the Batam Port Authority received a tip that the Belize-flagged Cramoil Equity was carrying hazardous waste without a permit in the waters of Batam. The agency’s patrol team ordered the ship to leave, but it allegedly did not comply.

Two days later, the patrol team found Cramoil Equity still within Indonesian waters. A boarding team found 20 bulk containers of toxic waste on the back deck, each containing about 250 gallons of liquid. Transporting hazardous waste into Indonesian waters without a permit is a violation of the nation’s environmental laws, punishable by up to a maximum of 15 years in prison.

The captain, identified as 48-year-old Indonesian national Chosmus Palandi, was convicted of transporting hazardous waste in June 2022 and sentenced to seven years in jail, plus a fine of $330,000 (or an additional three months in jail). The outcome of the case was announced in July.

The case may expand beyond a penalty for the captain alone. Indonesia’s ministry of the environment is working with the Indonesian embassy in Singapore to try to track down the cargo’s origin. The vessel’s operator, Cramoil Singapore, has previously been cited by Singaporean authorities for alleged discharge of untreated wastewater.

“Firm action against waste smuggling and any act against the environment must be carried out to protect Indonesian waters and environment,” the ministry said in a statement.

Source: https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/captain-sentenced-to-seven-years-in-jail-for-hazardous-waste-smuggling