Information on the transit of Philippine seafarers in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden

On 26/06/2024 (https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1227726), the Philippine Maritime Authority (MARINA) reported on the decision taken by the Philippine Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) in order to support the DMW’s position and to reiterate the possibility for all Philippine seafarers to exercise their right of withdrawal in the event of a threat to their person.

For the record:

• The DMW guidelines, dated 21/03/2024, recommend the application of the right of withdrawal for Filipino seafarers transiting in areas identified by the ITF/IBF unions as high-risk zones or assimilated to war zones ;
• Since 24/04/2024, the DMW has banned the transit of Filipino seafarers embarked on passenger/cruise ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden zones.

Practically, this means at this stage that on the one hand, all Filipino seafarers benefit from the right of withdrawal in the event of the vessel on which they are embarked passing through the Red Sea or the Gulf of Aden; on the other hand, Filipino seafarers are prohibited from transiting through the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden when they are embarked on passenger/cruise ships.

This DMW policy is implemented with private seafarer placement and recruitment services (SPRPGM) that employ or place Filipino seafarers. For any further information on this subject, shipowners, shipmanagers and manning agencies are invited to contact the DMW: sbhighrisk@dmw.gov.ph | (02) 8722-11-44

It should also be noted that the DMW plans to extend the above-mentioned ban to all types of vessels. However, this measure is still under discussion within the Philippine administration.