ISWAN – the International Seafarers’ Welfare and Assistance Network – meets a real, daily demand. Many of the world’s seafarers – who bring us here in the UK virtually all we need in bulk goods (95% of everything we use and depend on) – are often out on their own when they need help. The same applies to their families, at home with their breadwinner at sea for months at a time. (One seafarer MFUK encountered, on a Chinese coal carrier, had been away from home for 18 months straight.) So – how do the numbers stack up? Last year ISWAN – working closely with partners like the International Transport Workers Federation, the International Chamber of Shipping, and governments worldwide – dealt with:
1,920 cases…
… on behalf of 7,710 seafarers…
… of 84 nationalities…
… in 113 countries.
Needed? You bet.