CrewConnect Europe and ICMA Connect Virtual Conference Day 1Monday, 21 June 2021 - GMT (Greenwich Mean Time, GMTZ)

Day of the Seafarer 2021 will provide a platform to advocate for higher standards of working conditions. Seafarers will be invited to share their views about their future in seafaring.

Leading up to the Day, the campaign will release short polls aimed at collecting seafarers' feedback on what a fair future for seafarers includes and looks like.

This dialogue will take place under the hashtag #FairFuture4Seafarers on all IMO social media channels.

Over a year from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, our research shows that the conditions which lead to the crew change crisis are still there, draining the resources of owners, ship manager and seafarers alike. These are still the main challenges our respondents have identified for crewing and operations 2021. With this in mind, it's time we reflect on:

• An inventory: what actions have maritime organizations, associations and owners taken to alleviate the crew change crisis?
• An assessment: what could have been done more or differently, in hindsight? What is different this year?
• A plan: how to ensure we don't hit a breaking point this year?

The vaccine against COVID-19 has given many of us hopes that we can finally get back to normal and is conceivably, the a big part of the reason for the optimism we all felt at the end of 2020, as the vaccine development was entering the home stretch. For seafarers, a profession so heavily dependent on international travel and free movement, the vaccine would be a silver bullet, if only they could have it.

In this session we look at:

• Vaccine distribution plans and progress in Europe and crew supply countries;
• Challenges to procurement and implementation;
• How to mitigate the consequences of the vaccine "haves" and "have nots"

The theme of the panel will be on how to port chaplains and ship visitors have experienced connecting with seafarers during the pandemic. How have they done ship visits, personal shopping, communicating using social media or other connections with seafarers? What have they learned during the pandemic that might be useful for the future?

In this session we hear from our panel of ship managers for the mid-year check-in and more importantly, to share experience and best practices:

•dealing with and optimizing crew admin
•improving relationships and working with authorities
•innovative solutions

Safely reopening services remains the main focus for all cruise operators. It's also a much anticipated event for customers all over the world, in need of travel and entertainment. We look at safety protocols on board, preventing and managing an outbreak and how they are likely to impact crew and passengers.

Given the stop and start that the industry has seen with some operators running limited services, which inevitably got cancelled to outbreaks on board, we look at what operators might consider as conditions for allowing passengers onboard, including vaccination.

End of June would've marked of the peak seasons for cruises, under "normal" circumstances. However, we now find ourselves still asking:

• When can services open and to what capacity?
• How is this impacting the industry and more importantly, crew members?
• What is the level of appetite and confidence from the crew supply side?

In light of the present COVID-19 situation and severe restrictions on crew changes, the overall health and wellbeing of seafarers has increasingly become a matter of concern. The Re:fresh wellbeing edition is based on the standard Re:fresh survey, focusing on psychological and social aspects. 27 companies participated in the survey with 16,977 responses representing over 87,000 seafarers from all around the world. This presentation will focus on the social aspect of life onboard as well as seafarers experiences in their own words, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

One of the biggest challenges in 2021, for welfare and wellbeing for both seafarers and personnel on shore is COVID-19 fatigue. The prolonged stress and anxiety related to COVID may have decreased in intensity, but the duration and seeming lack of an end point are causing very serious problems. In this session we discuss ways in which we can recognize and deal with fatigue.