By
Rebecca Gibson |
Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) has become the first major line to be certified for compliance with the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Maritime Labor Convention (MLC) 2006.
Following an audit of NCL’s 11-ship, international fleet, Lloyd's Register Group confirmed that the line provides comprehensive rights and protection at work for more than 17,000 of its crew members. According to the classification body, the NCL team embraced the spirit and intent of the convention, while embedding continuous compliance practices into its management processes.
“We value our hard-working crew and consider them our most important and greatest asset,” said Kevin Sheehan, NCL’s CEO and president. “We employ more than 17,000 seafarers from around 100 different countries around the globe and respect each individual for the unique talents they bring to our organisation. Being the first major cruise line to successfully implement the new labour standards demonstrates that Norwegian also leads the industry when it comes to taking care of its crew members.”
MLC 2006 outlines seafarers’ rights to decent conditions of work and aims to be globally applicable, readily updatable and uniformly enforced. Complementing key IMO conventions, it consolidates and updates more than 68 international maritime labour standards and international regulatory regimes.
In order to demonstrate its commitment to the MLC convention, NCL donated US$10,000 to the Virlanie Foundation, which provides shelter, food and education for street children in Manila, Philippines.
“One of the most important aspects of the Maritime Labor Convention is the seafarer’s social welfare,” said Sheehan. “As a socially responsible company, we give back to the community. A majority of our shipboard employees hail from the Philippines, so we are proud to continue to support the important work that the Virlanie Foundation does on an ongoing basis.”