‘A global race to the bottom has been ongoing in
the industry, and in 2021 it is continuing with
highly profitable corporations exerting
downward pressure on pricing for critical tug
and towage contracts in every corner of the globe,’ Mr
Kerkhof and Mr De La Guardia wrote in an article pub-lished
in The Maritime Post.
Major shipping companies are grouping their contracts
with towage providers and then demanding discounts that
smaller companies cannot sustain.
As a consequence, it is extremely difficult for tugboat
and towage operators to achieve fair returns if they use
the number of crew needed to operate safely.
Even in cases in which tugboat and towage workers are
directly employed, contract squeezing has become so
pervasive that staffing is being cut to unsustainable levels.
‘We have been clear that the industry must stop cutting
back on maintenance, equipment, fleet renewal and
training,’ they say.
‘It is time to return to safe crewing levels and proper
periods of rest and safe levels of work.
‘We urge leaders of the shipping, logistics and freighting
industries to recognise the unsustainability of the current
trajectory.
‘Hazardous working conditions are a disaster waiting to
FINLANDS SJÖFART J SUOMEN MERENKULKU 35
happen.’
The International Transport Workers’ Federation
commissioned a study in 2018 of fatigue among Panama
Canal tug captains.
They interviewed 55 captains, a third of the total
number working on the canal.
Nearly one in three captains interviewed said they had
worked up to 20 hours in a single shift, and six of them
reported falling asleep at work.
The tug captains say their workload has doubled since
the elimination of the motorised ‘mules’ that moved ships
in the old locks and the opening, two years ago, of the new
locks. •
UNION RENEWS
ACTION OVER PANAMA
CANAL SAFETY:
BIT.LY/PANCANTUGS
RISKS OF
DOWN
The six-day blockage of the Suez Canal this
year has shone a light on the essential role
tug and towboat operators play in keeping
the world’s supply lines open. But two ex-perts
on tugs and towage – Jacques Kerkhof
and Ivan De La Guardia – warn that unless
critical safety concerns along major water-ways
are addressed, the world could be in
store for another Ever Given-type crisis
sooner rather than later.
JACQUES KERKHOF is chair of the
European Transport Workers’ Federation
Tug & Towage Committee.
IVAN DE LA GUARDIA is a Panama Canal
tug master and an official of Union de
Capitanes y Oficiales de Cubierta
de Panama (UCOC).