Union of Seafarers of Montenegro, Association of the Agencies for Mediation in Employment of Seafarers and Association of Sea Captains have pointed at the need for branding seafarers as crucial transport workforce, like countries of the EU and Great Britain did.
They requested this status owing to the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic in a letter they sent to Mr Duško Marković.
Considering the specificity of the situation, such status would enable seafarers to travel to specific port with no delay and come back to their residence.
There are around 3.000 people employed in shipping companies.
Representatives of seafaring organizations point out that International Chamber Shipping Organization and International Transport Workers Federation launched an initiative on 19 March.
In addition, on 17 and 23 March, EU Commission adopted recommendations for its members for the establishment of “green” or free passes on border crossings.
“By means of these instructions, our seafarers are recognized to have the status of “transport workers” and are allowed to travel freely to EU ports. However, due to different interpretations of specific EU countries, this measure hasn’t been put into practice yet”.
They suggest state administration addresses Croatia and enable transit to our seafarers.
