To the unknown Covid-19 victims
Who is thinking of logistics personnel in the days of anti-pandemic measures? Global sea, air and road transport workers' organisations and trade unions called on world leaders meeting at the United Nations General Assembly last week to end the "humanitarian crisis in the global supply chain".
In an open letter, the ICS (International Chamber of Shipping), IRU (International Road Transport Union), Iata (International Air Transport Association) and ITF (Transport Workers' Federation) made an urgent appeal to restore the free movement of transport workers.
Indeed, all transport workers continued to maintain the flow of global trade during the pandemic, but this took a real human toll. At the height of the crew change crisis, 400,000 seafarers were unable to leave their ships, some working aboard for up to 18 months beyond their initial contracts.
The organisations represent more than USD 20 trillion in world trade annually and 65 million global transport workers and more than 3.5 million road haulage and airline companies and more than 80% of the world's merchant fleet.
Guy Platten, secretary general of the ICS, said: "Two of the themes of this year's General Assembly are human rights and resilience. As transport workers have shown indescribable levels of resilience in the face of immense difficulties, we ask the United Nations and the heads of state to finally take decisive and coordinated action to resolve this crisis." (cd)