Transparency and dialogue between owners and charterers key to crew change challenge
20 January 2021World trade has to flow - we get that. Charterers have contractual obligations under short term spot charters that sometimes leave little room for delays - we get that too. Owners are responsible for managing and relieving their crews - that's not in doubt either. But what we don't accept is that a minority of charterers may simply be looking the other way when they are presented with a ship that also happens to be in need of a crew change. We don't expect charterers to foot the bill and we recognise that hiring ships is a matter of commercial negotiation - but we see no reason why charterers and owners should not have an open and honest dialogue to try to find a solution for much needed crew changes.
