The participants of the Conference

– Noting the negative tendency in the world merchant shipping, represented through lack of qualified officers;
– Admitting that such a tendency is developing against the background of the fact that maritime professions’ prestige is generally decreasing and they are loosing their attractiveness for young people;
– Attracting attention to the specific features of seafarers’ labour associated with long-term voyages, significant psychological load on crews, alongside with such factors as acts of piracy and armed robbery against the merchant ships that have become more frequent recently, international legislation complication, increase of documents circulation on a number of occasions;
– Realizing that creation of adequate working and recreational conditions for seafarers, as well as appropriate social guarantees granting, is the most important demand for officers shortage control;
– Thereupon taking into consideration that proper state and social support for teaching stuff of maritime educational establishments in Ukraine is an integral part of stable personnel inflow into the maritime industry supplying activities;
– Highly appreciating the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) and International Labour Office’s contribution into the establishment of proper working and recreational conditions on the ships and granting of necessary seafarers’ social protection through adoption of the Consolidated ILO Convention of Labour in Marine Shipping in 2006;

Being convinced that the successful problem solution of restoring maritime professions’ high reputation, together with solving a problem of a lack of qualified marine officers is possible only through all interested parties’ concerted action, i.e. IMO, ILO, European Union, flags states, shipowners, international governmental and public organizations and associations, responsible for professional seafarers’ training, providing of proper working and recreational conditions and ensuring appropriate social guarantees for seafarers, the participants of the Conference:

1. Express support of the actions, directed at early coming into effect of the ILO Convention of Labour in Marine Shipping, 2006 and Revised STCW Convention and Code, as well as of the actions on harmonization of IMO and ILO instruments, regulating marine transport labour issues;

2. Express approval as to shipping companies practice, providing an integrated approach to seafarers training and working activities, career planning, crew retraining investment, social protection guarantee for crew members of sea-going ships;

3. Call all the interested parties to active cooperation in the field of solving the problem of restoring maritime professions’ high reputation, regarding it as a way to re-establish stable personnel inflow into the world maritime industry.

4. Declare their determination to do their best in the future to attract Ukrainian citizens to working onboard of world merchant fleet ships and to provide high level of Ukrainian seafarers professional training and their competitiveness at the world labour market.

Odessa, Ukraine, the 8th of October, 2010