The ITF and the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) have jointly written an open letter to the United Nations agencies for the global maritime industry calling on everything possible to be done to keep trade moving during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The letter calls on all governments to continue to allow commercial ships access to ports worldwide and to facilitate the movement and rapid changeover of ships’ crews.
‘We therefore wish to emphasise the vital need for the world’s professional merchant seafarers to be granted appropriate exemptions from any national travel restrictions, when joining or leaving their ships, in order to keep the world’s maritime supply chains functioning,’ the letter states.
The ICS represents the world’s national shipowners’ associations and over 80 percent of the world’s merchant shipping tonnage.
