January 26, 2021
The Teekay Group joins more than 300 organizations as signatories to the Neptune Declaration, an initiative led by the Global Maritime Forum, urging for industry accountability and addressing the deepening crew change crisis.
The shipping industry is facing unique challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic: restricted port access, difficulty re-suppling vessels, and most concerning of all, challenges in completing crew changes and repatriations. As the frontline workers of the maritime industry carrying 90% of global trade, seafarers play a vital role in ensuring the global flow of goods that the world depends on. At Teekay, our teams have been working tirelessly to mitigate these issues while working with international governing bodies to lobby for change.
The Neptune Declaration outlines the main actions that need to be taken to resolve the crew change crisis including:
- Recognizing seafarers as key workers and give them priority access to Covid-19 vaccines
- Establishing and implementing gold standard health protocols based on existing best practice
- Increasing collaboration between ship operators and charterers to facilitate crew changes
- Ensuring air connectivity between key maritime hubs for seafarers
As part of the declaration, we recognize that we 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.