Unilever, P&G push suppliers to rescue more than 300,000 seafarers

Unilever and Procter & Gamble (P&G) are among consumer companies urging world leaders to resolve the plight of more than 300,000 seafarers stuck on commercial vessels, where forced labor and deteriorating working conditions threaten to disrupt the global supply chain.

Chief executives of household consumer brands, from retailer Carrefour SA to food manufacturer Mondelez International and beverage maker Heineken NV, have signed an open letter calling for measures to allow more crew changes at ports, ensure the safety of overworked seafarers and make sure supply chains don’t use forced labour.

The letter, which was sent Wednesday to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is the latest call to address a growing humanitarian crisis at sea brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic as cautious governments restrict access to borders and air travel remains curbed. An earlier Bloomberg investigation found numerous violations of international maritime law designed to protect seafarers, including wage and labor problems highlighted by interviews with more than 40 crew members globally.

“We are coming to a tipping point if we don’t resolve the issue of crew changes,” Marc Engel, chief supply chain officer at Unilever, which spearheaded the letter, said in an interview. “There’s a huge risk that the global supply chain will start failing. It’s an inadvertent situation of forced labor because these seafarers are stuck on these ships. It’s a human rights issue.”

Guterres addressed the crisis Thursday, asking governments to designate seafarers as “key workers” to ease their travels at borders and ports. Over 120 countries or territories have stopped or limited access for ships to conduct seafarer changes in a bid to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus that’s killed almost 1 million across the globe. “This has led to a major disruption of global supply chains,” the CEOs said in the letter.  

To ensure the supply of critical goods and protect seafarers’ human rights, the CEOs are calling for measures that include: 

Introducing a robust test and trace regime to ensure the safety of seafarers and crew changes Limiting any unavoidable crew contract extensions to the next scheduled port where crew change is possible and/or diverting course to a port where crew changes can be arranged within the International Labour Organization’s guidelines Signatories communicating the request for the measures to their shippers, logistics providers and suppliers, and the Consumer Goods Forum will encourage all stakeholders to abide by labour principle.