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Britain must look abroad to halt shipping decline

BRITAIN must look abroad if it is to reverse the long decline of its shipping sector, maritime union Nautilus’s conference heard yesterday.

The union’s general secretary Mark Dickinson told delegates: “The Dutch maritime policy package illustrates how things could be different if the UK government had strategies to support shipping and investment in the skills of our young people.

“The Dutch have a highly structured and co-ordinated commitment to the future of the nation’s maritime skills — with 100 per cent support for training costs and a job guarantee — which is delivering a reversal of the decline in the skills base.”

He said the union must see the 2006 Maritime Labour Convention — the so-called “bill of rights” for the world’s 1.2 million seafarers — as a “foundation” rather than “job done.”

Nautilus, which represents seafarers in Britain, the Netherlands and Switzerland, also heard from International Transport Workers’ Federation maritime co-ordinator Jackie Smith at its general meeting in Liverpool.

“Gone are the days when [unions dealt with] a national company and national negotiations, and the trade union movement needs to bring these discussions into the international arena,” she warned.

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