The efforts made by World Health Organization, International Civil Aviation Organization, International Labour Organization and International Maritime Organization to ensure there is a continuous supply of maritime supplies at an international level along with movement of trucks and cargo during time of coronavirus pandemic, were lauded by Suhail bin Mohammed Al Mazrouei, UAE’s Cabinet Minister and Minister of Energy and Infrastructure.

The cabinet minister is also a Board Chairman of the Federal Transport Authority – Land and Maritime. He appreciated the continuous work by the organizations while he was addressing the International Maritime Virtual Summit. The summit was recently convened by the UK with the purpose to address the pandemic impact on the changes in crew. The summit’s prime center of discussion was the various challenges faced by the ships’ crews globally. The governments and groups were advised to handle the issues for smooth transportation of goods and support the maritime crew. The summit was attended by representatives of over a dozen countries.

The minister said while addressing the summit regarding UAE’s handling of the situation “The UAE has recently announced a sweeping government restructuring, merging ministries and departments to create a more agile government that is faster in decision making and better in seizing opportunities and dealing with the new phase of the country’s history.”

He further commented, “We are able to turn the challenges triggered by the Covid-19 to opportunities and deliver a more sustainable future.”

Minister also commented on the self-navigating vessels operations, which needs plenty of grooming for an entire generation of crew who are trained and qualified to tackle the challenges faced in business during this digital age. “In the maritime sector, we are determined to lay a special focus on digital transformation and emerging technologies.”

Minister elaborated that the Covid-19 is not just a global health crisis, but rather a crisis that has affected all the sectors in entirety, which includes the maritime sector. Referring to the “Echoes of Hope” that has been launched by the UAE, the minister said that how the initiative is designed and aimed to support workers in maritime and healthcare sectors. He said that the initiative is also to provide solidarity to all the frontline workers and control teams across the world who are handling the pandemic crisis.

The minister further elaborated, while affirming the determined aim of Federal Transport Authority to adopt state of the art technology to address various crew changes and smoothly streamlining the shipping operations and said, “We should continue to work together on addressing all challenges faced by seafarers by ensuring continuity of global maritime supply chains.”

The summit also witnessed the participating 13 governments to issue a joint statement on crew changes. The attendees included representatives from UAE, Saudi Arabia, US, UK, Denmark, France, Greece, Germany, Netherlands, Indonesia, Singapore, Norway and Philippines.  

 WAM