Headlines
Russia-Ukraine conflict may lead to seafarers shortage, hike in wages—Experts
According to analysts, nearly 1.9 million seafarers are currently operating over 74,000 vessels in the global merchant fleet.
They said with the Russia Ukraine conflict showing no signs of easing and all focus on humanitarian logistics and aid, one key component of the supply chain – as usual – is being ignored and they are the seafarers.
Nearly 1.9 million seafarers are currently operating over 74,000 vessels in the global merchant fleet, according to the Seafarer Workforce Report published in 2021 by BIMCO and the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS).
“Of this total workforce, 198,123 (10.5 percent) of seafarers are Russian of which 71,652 are officers and 126,471 are ratings.
Combined they represent 14.5 percent of the global workforce.
“Shipping is currently responsible for the movement of nearly 90 percent of global trade.
“Seafarers have been at the forefront of the response to the Covid Pandemic, ensuring essential supplies of food, fuel and medicine continue to reach their destinations,” ICS said in a statement.
Guy Platten, Secretary-General, ICS, added: “To maintain this unfettered trade, seafarers must be able to join and disembark ships (crew change) freely across the world.
“Seafarers have been at the forefront of keeping trade flowing through the pandemic and we hope that all parties will continue to facilitate free passage of goods and these key workers at this time.”
Research by ICS shows that an average ship has a mix of at least three nationalities on board, and sometimes as many as 30.
“Three languages were the minimum spoken on the average ship.”
ICS has also called on governments around the world to ensure access to medical care for seafarers after it emerged that crews continue to be refused urgent treatment at ports during the pandemic.
Given this background, the International Maritime Organization held an Extraordinary Council Session on Mach 10 and 11, and the agenda was on addressing the impacts on shipping and seafarers of the situation in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.
“We anticipate we will receive specific submissions from Member-States as well as from NGOs in consultative status but mostly it will allow for States to make statements as to their views,” an official told The STAT Media Group.
The IMO Council consists of 40 Member States, elected by the IMO Assembly.
The International Group of P&I Clubs (marine insurance providers) personnel sub-committee has issued a contract addendum to assist owners and crew, especially Ukrainian crew, who would like to alter their contracts.
The last container ship in Ukraine – Joseph Schulte, capable of carrying 9,400 20-foot containers – arrived on the eve of Russia’s invasion and has not moved in 12 days, its crew and cargo safe but caught in a war zone, Bloomberg reported.
Seafarers and the ship are “safe and well,” according to a statement from a crisis PR agency that responded to an email request sent to Germany-based Bernhard Schulte that is listed as the ship’s owner, the report added.
Russian/Ukrainian seafarers more on tankers
” Hence it is on these trades that the main effects will be felt,” Drewry said in an update.
“A reasonable proportion of Russian and Ukrainian seafarers will already have foreign homes, and will therefore be less restricted in their travel to or from vessels during crew changes.
“Hence, a large number will therefore be directly affected now.”
Ukrainian seafarers currently at sea will find repatriation very difficult with a best case that they travel to a nearby country by air and then onward home via whatever means is available, Drewry added.
For a range of reasons, it is thought that they will find it very difficult or impossible to travel to join a vessel for their next scheduled tour.”
Given the fast-changing situation, employers may think twice about employing Russian seafarers if they cannot reliably get them to vessels as planned.
However, as mentioned earlier, given pre-existing tight officer availability, there will only be limited skilled labour available to fill any gaps.”
Drewry is expecting the conflict’s impacts on seafarer availability to lead to wage inflation, particularly for officers where supply conditions were already tight.
Headlines
Alleged N8.5bn Fraud: You Have Case To Answer, Lagos Court Tells NIMASA Staff, Ex-JTF Commander
Justice Ayokunle Faji of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Monday, April 22, 2024, told a former Commander of the Joint Military Task Force, Operation Pulo Shield, Major-General Emmanuel Atewe (rtd.), and a staff of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, Kime Engonzu, that they have a case to answer in the alleged N8.5bn money laundering case brought against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
Atewe and Engonzu are standing trial on a 22-count charge bordering on money laundering to the tune of N8, 537,586,798.58, which also involves a former Director-General of NIMASA, Patrick Akpobolokemi, and Josephine Otuaga, also a staff of NIMASA.
One of the counts reads: “That you, Patrick Ziadeke Akpobolokemi, Major General Emmanuel Atewe, Kime Engozu, and Josphine Otuaga, sometime in 2014, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Court, with intent to defraud, conspired amongst yourselves to commit an offence to wit: conversion of the sum of N8,537,586,798.58 property of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18 (a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2012 and punishable under Section 15 (3) of the same Act.”
They pleaded “not guilty” to the charges, thereby prompting the commencement of their trial.
In the course of the trial, the prosecution called several witnesses and subsequently closed its case against the defendants.
However, the defendants, rather than open their defence, filed a no-case-submission.
Akpobolokemi had, in a no-case submission, filed by his lawyer, Dr. Joseph Nwobike, SAN, prayed the court for an acquittal without having him present a defence.
Ruling on the no-case submission on Monday, Justice Faji discharged and acquitted Akpobolokemi and Otuaga, the fourth defendant.
Headlines
EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukayode, threatens to resign if Yahaya Bello is not brought to justice.
According to the EFCC Chairman, he had a telephone conversation with Bello offering him ample opportunities to present himself for interrogation by investigators of the EFCC.
“On my honour, I put a call to him to honour him as a former governor.
He told the media executives that the Commission has recovered more than N120billion from fraudsters within six months and secured more than 1300 convictions.
He called on Nigerians to be more dedicated to the nation, insisting that patriotic Nigerians should offer more support to the EFCC because the Commission is crucial to the growth and development of Nigeria.
Headlines
EFCC denies disobeying court order on Yahaya Bello
The Eyewitness Reporter
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) has denied the widely held claim that it flouted a court order restraining it from arresting or harassing Yahaya Bello, the former Governor of Kogi State.
In a Press Statement signed by the EFCC’s Acting Director of Public Affairs, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, the Commission clearly pointed out that though Bello sought refuge in a fundamental rights enforcement action through an order granted by Justice Isa Jamil Abdulallahi of the Kogi State High Court, the order did not vitiate or nullify an order made by the Federal High Court for the arrest of the former governor for the purpose of his arraignment.“The enrolled Order of the Kogi State High Court only granted an order to enforce Bello’s right to personal liberty and freedom of movement, it didn’t preclude the Federal High Court ‘to make any Order as it may deem just in the determination of the rights of the Applicant and the Respondent as may be submitted to her for consideration and determination”, he said.
He further stressed that “The Order made by the Federal High Court for the arrest of Mr. Yahaya Bello for the purpose of his arraignment is not in conflict with the Order of the Kogi State High Court.
“The case before the Federal High Court is a criminal charge which is different from the fundamental rights enforcement action that is the subject of an appeal”.
Uwujaren pointed out that the EFCC had a shining track record in the prosecution of politically exposed persons and would continue to exercise its mandate in the overall interest of the nation.
” He admonished Bello to turn himself in and answer to the charges preferred against him by the Commission.
He called on all patriotic Nigerians to lend their voices in support of the Commission stressing that ” the EFCC will not relent in its quest to wrestle corruption to the ground”
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