Fund launched to help seafarers in difficulties

The dedicated fund is designed to respond to emergency financial or welfare requests from seafarers or their families in less than 24 hours, taking the immediate pressure off a stressful situation.

AoS Great Britain national director Martin Foley said: “Most seafarers and fishermen enjoy good living and working conditions but there can be circumstances when crew are not paid, cannot access communications to speak to family and loved ones and even lack food, water and heating. AoS is often called upon to provide emergency support in what quickly becomes a very stressful and difficult situation for crew and their families, many of whom depend on remittances to pay for basics back home. Resolving these problems can take months so quick cash grants can really help. Our port chaplains are uniquely placed to judge whether a modest grant will alleviate a crew member’s situation without compromising efforts to resolve the underlying problem.”

A typical case illustrating the the need for the fund was the Independent, which for much of 2013 was stranded in Shoreham port. The crew had not been paid, and all left except for the Master and one Ukranian seafarer who remained onboard. Consequently the seafarers and their families ran into debt, resulting in significant stress. In addition to providing practical support to the Master and the seafarer, AoS made a one-off emergency grant to the seafarer of US$1,000 (the average Ukrainian salary being US$300 per month). AoS says that there was no other fund that could provide emergency support to this seafarer as existing funds would not give cash directly.