8/14/2019 BIMCO Article Sept 2009

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Watchkeeper: Coast Guard addresses US shore leave issue

Eight years after the terrorist attacks on 9/11, crew shore leave in the United States remains a thorny issue. It is still causing considerable distress to seafarers denied

access to the shore after long voyages and a matter of concern to those who find that their ability to board ships is prevented because of bureaucratic hurdles put in their

way. A survey conducted under the aegis of the Seamens Church Institute of New York and New Jersey earlier this year and recently published seemed to indicate that

while matters were improving, there remained much that was arbitrary and unpredictable about the treatment meted out to visiting seafarers, with wide differences of

approach between different ports and terminals. It found, paradoxically, that there were even differences in willingness to grant shore leave or access in the same facility at

different times of the day, suggesting that interpretation by individuals was often far from standard.

The survey found that the lack of a current US visa was by far the greatest hindrance to shore leave, the sample noting that out of more than 800 seafarers reporting denial,

more than 600 had experienced visa problems. The concern over swine flu had also led to a number of denials, at a time when globally this was a major issue. But the

survey also pointed to a number of continuing problems, where proprietors of shore side facilities, such as oil terminals made in exceedingly difficult for either seafarers to

get ashore, or for people with a legitimate requirement to board ships, to do so.

There were also reports of excessive charges for transport or escorts to conduct people between ship and gates and some evidence that considerable effort was being

made to deter movement between ship and shore, through imposition of bureaucratic barriers or simple inconvenience. The survey also seemed to infer that US seafarers

were almost as much affected as foreign seafarers.

Notably, although the survey only lasted for a week in May, it was discovered that requirement for the new US Transport Worker Identification Credential did not seem to be

reported as a problem by those wishing to board ships. The ability of foreign seafarers to obtain US visas is, by contrast, a problem that will not go away and remains

particularly acute for those who are not regular traders to the US or whose ships might engage in spot voyages to US ports, where they arrive without visas.

For some time it has been suggested by seafarers organisations and others that security has been seized upon by many facility operators to merely opt out of any

provisions to assist those wishing to leave and board ships. A complete denial, it is suggested, is so much easier and cheaper to implement.

The seafarers dilemma has clearly been recognised by the US Coast Guard, with its Commandant Admiral Thad Allan taking an increasingly tough line with ports and

facilities which make no provision for ship/shore access. He has now written to his force of Port Captains instructing them to reject the port facility security plans which

require to be submitted to the USCG, if they do not make proper provision for ship/shore access. The Commandant has been increasingly sympathetic to the concernsexpressed by seafarers and by industry organisations such as BIMCO, which has used its high level contacts to point out the problems shore leave denial causes to the

welfare and convenience of visiting seafarers. It is hoped that the latest and stronger stance by the Commandant will make a difference to those facilities which continue to

make the lives of seafarers and others unnecessarily difficult.

Articles written by the Watchkeeper and other outside contributors do not necessarily reflect the views or policy of BIMCO.

Page 1 of 1Watchkeeper: Coast Guard addresses US shore leave issue - BIMCO

10/24/2009https://www.bimco.org/Members%20Area/News/General_News/2009/10/14_Watchkeep...