Milaha, the leading provider of maritime and logistic services in the Middle East, has signed the Neptune Declaration on Seafarer Well-being and Crew Change. By joining the Neptune Declaration, Milaha has joined over 800 other organisations and corporations across the world who have signed this declaration.
The Neptune Declaration outlines the main actions that need to be taken to resolve the crew change crisis.
“Milaha has joined the Neptune Declaration on Seafarer Well-being and Crew Change, which has been signed by over 800 organisations. The Declaration lays out the key steps for resolving the crew change crisis and ensuring seafarers well-being,” tweeted the company, yesterday.
COVID-19 has impacted the daily lives and wellbeing of seafarers in unprecedented ways, causing a humanitarian crisis at sea. Hundreds of thousands of seafarers have been stranded working aboard ships beyond the expiry of their contracts. As the frontline workers of the maritime industry carrying 90 percent of global trade, seafarers play a vital role in ensuring the global flow of goods that the world depends on.
The signatories to The Neptune Declaration recognise that they have a shared responsibility to ensure that the current crew change crisis is resolved as soon as possible and to use the learnings from the crisis as an opportunity to build a more resilient maritime supply chain.
Milaha efforts in effectively managing health, safety, environment and employees’ well-being have been recognised in the past. In recognition of its commitment to world-class health, safety and environmental management standards, Milaha, was awarded from the British Safety Council the prestigious ‘Sword of Honour’ for a third consecutive year and the ‘Globe of Honour’ for a second consecutive year.
In December last year, Milaha had obtained The British Safety Council COVID-19 Assurance Assessment Certificate. Following its efforts to ensure the highest safety levels at workplaces, Milaha, was certified by the British Safety Council for the quality of its COVID-19 corporate policies, procedures and protocols.
As the global economy and all its business sectors continue to face the impacts of the COVID-19 challenges, Milaha developed and performed a detailed set of working practices and measures to protect its employees, workers, customers, visitors and suppliers, in a bid to effectively reduce COVID-19 transmission.
These practices have been rigorously assessed by the British Safety Council and considered to be in accordance with the current Qatari government and International best practice guidelines.
The Neptune Declaration urges the implementation of four main actions to address the crisis.
It advocates recognising seafarers as key workers and giving them priority access to COVID-19 vaccines and establishing and implementing gold standard health protocols based on existing best practice.
The declaration urges to increase collaboration between ship operators and charterers to facilitate crew changes and ensure air connectivity between key maritime hubs for seafarers.
