“Growing erosion of seafarer rights”: UK Ratings jobs down to 8% of UK shipping workforce – Carmichael responds

Orkney and Shetland MP, Alistair Carmichael, has today responded to new government statistics showing that only 8% of employees in the UK shipping industry are now UK nationals. Mr Carmichael joined concerns raised by seafarers union RMT over the risk of exploitation in the shipping industry due to the decline in the proportion of shipping workers resident in the UK.

New official figures show there has been a 38% annual increase in the total number of ratings jobs in the UK shipping industry, to over 125,000, but only 8% are UK nationals and only 11% of all seafarers are UK residents. The RMT has warned that this means the vast majority of seafarers in UK shipping are non-EEA nationals on “P&O-style” contracts, which pay below the minimum wage and lack employment and welfare protections.

Mr Carmichael said:

“The P&O scandal of 2022 opened many eyes to the growing erosion of seafarer rights – a grim reality that workers in the merchant navy from the isles and elsewhere have known for some time. Almost two years on, the decline of share from UK ratings in these official statistics do not give a great deal of confidence that the government is improving conditions for shipping workers.

“As a country we have tolerated practices at sea that we would regard as simply unthinkable on dry land. I remember lobbying in 2016 for the enforcement of the national minimum wage for crews on the freight boats operating between Aberdeen and Lerwick, who were being paid £3.66 an hour.

“We all want to see a successful UK shipping industry but that cannot be built on the destruction of working standards for UK seafarers. People across the country and in the isles deserve confidence that this is a viable and worthwhile career to pursue – ministers must do more to ensure a level playing field for all.”