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Maritime Law-Presentation at the Newport Charter Show on MLC

On June 24, 2014, I had the pleasure of speaking at the Newport Charter Show on the topic titled "The Climate on Crewing has Changed; The Maritime Labor Convention 2006 Enters Into Force".

Photograph of Newport Boat Show taken from newportboatshow.com
 

I have been writing continuously on the entry into force of the Maritime Labor Convention, commonly referred to as the “MLC”. On August 20, 2013, the MLC entered into force and institutes minimum standards of living conditions, fair employment practices and other employment protection for vessel crew on a worldwide basis. While many yacht owners and operators are under the impression that the MLC does not affect them, the MLC in fact directly impacts the operations of every vessel engaged in charter service.

The presentation covered:
  • Significant changes in the manager-employee climate as it relates to full and part time crew
  • The issues of ratification by the various flag states; who this will affect and what the affected industry players should know about the new requirements

The 1 hour presentation was followed by two case scenarios that were given to the audience to review, handle and discuss. The two case scenarios went into other legal areas, including the Jones Act, repatriation of crew, handling STCW issues in light of injured/ill crew, handling crew employment contracts whether or not the vessel is subject to MLC and other such issues. The presentation was attended by individuals representing crew placement services, maritime attorneys, yacht brokers, marine insurance brokers, operators, captains and others with a stake in the implementation of MLC on yachts.

Photograph of Newport Harbor from history.com

The feedback I have received thus far from the presentation was that it was extremely helpful and presented in such a way that made it easy for those responsible for implementing the MLC to take back to their owners/operators for further discussion.

A copy of the show event schedule can be found here => Newport Charter Show Event Schedule. If you are interested in learning more about the show or the presentation given, please feel free to contact me at mov@chaloslaw.com.

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