SEAFARERS AWARENESS WEEK

That this House supports Seafarers Awareness Week 2013 on 24 to 30 June; notes that shipping accounts for 95 per cent by volume and 75 per cent by value of the UK's annual imports and exports; recognises the social, economic and historic value of the 12,610 officer, 9,330 rating and 2,160 officer cadet UK seafarers currently active at sea; expresses concern at the ongoing decline in the number of registered UK seafarers, with ratings alone having fallen by over 60 per cent in number in the last 30 years; further notes that UK seafarers account for under a quarter of the 20,145 seafarers employed on the 888 ships in the Tonnage Tax scheme, over half of which fly non-UK flags, including flags of convenience; further notes that the Tonnage Tax scheme has provided a tax rebate to shipping companies of at least £800 million but nothing in the way of ratings' training and only half the number of officer training places required to avoid long-term depletion of the UK maritime skills base; is dismayed that the shipping industry enjoys this huge tax break whilst paying non-UK seafarers wages below the minimum wage on ships working from UK ports; and calls on the Government to demonstrate an awareness of the importance of UK seafarers by reforming the Tonnage Tax scheme to create a mandatory link to ratings' training and enforcement of the existing mandatory link to officer training, or risk sacrificing the UK's seafaring tradition and maritime security to appease the shipping industry's destabilising demand for cheap labour.