ICS launches MLC website
Nov 01 2013
The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) has launched a new web-based information resource to assist shipping companies to implement the International Labour Organization (ILO) Maritime Labour Convention (MLC).
The ILO MLC entered into force worldwide in August although, in practice for many ships, full certification including the preparation of Documents of Maritime Labour Compliance on board individual vessels is not required until August next year.
ICS, operating as the International Shipping Federation (ISF), negotiated the text of the MLC on behalf of maritime employers, with unions and governments, when the Convention was adopted in 2006.
Speaking at the recent Manning and Training Conference in Manila, ICS director employment affairs, Natalie Shaw, said: "This new ICS resource should help to answer many of the questions that employers still have with respect to MLC implementation and will hopefully serve as a kind of 'one stop shop', in combination with guidance we have already produced and that of individual flag states."
The new web resource contains responses to frequently asked questions (FAQs), the differing ratification status of flag states, various guidance materials that have been produced by the ILO, as well as the existing free guidance on Port State Control, which ICS published free of charge this summer.
It also includes very recent material, such as draft ILO guidance for the training of ship's cooks, which was only developed last month.
The new web area also provides information about the comprehensive ISF Guidelines on the Application of the ILO MLC, which were published last year, and the ISF Watchkeeper software for maintaining individual seafarers' rest hours in accordance with MLC requirements.
In another move, the ICS has urged the Chinese Government to find a solution to problems created by the introduction of a value added tax (VAT) on transport and logistics services.
ICS chairman, Masamichi Morooka, has written to the Chinese Minister of Finance, to continue its efforts to find a solution to the problem. VAT was introduced on 1st August this year to the transport and logistics services provided by 'wholly foreign owned shipping companies'.
Returning to the MLC, the Standard Club is to address over 120 Turkish shipowner representatives and brokers on the subject at a seminar at the Turkish Chamber of Shipping in Istanbul on Wednesday 6th November 2013.
Turkey is expected to ratify the MLC in the near future. The convention came into force on 20th August 2013 and is currently ratified by 47 countries representing 76% of the world's gross tonnage.
The seminar will also cover other current topics of interest to shipowners, including electronic bills of lading.
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