In a circular letter published in December, IMO Secretary Gral Kitack Lim urges Member States that have not yet done so to take urgent action.

This designation is crucial to exempt these professionals from specific travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing them to travel between their country of residence and ships, and to be repatriated at the end of their contracts. This is critical to solving the crew change crisis, which currently leaves hundreds of thousands of sailors trapped at se