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German shipping under fire

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Page context: Home > Transport International Magazine > Issue 24 July 2006 > German shipping under fire

Dean Summers reports on THE targeted international campaign to win protection for Leonhardt & Blumberg flag of convenience crews.

Frank Leonhardt is the third generation chief executive of the now notorious Leonhardt & Blumberg shipping company in Hamburg, Germany. This 103-year-old company owns almost 45 ships. But until very recently, it had never signed a single agreement with the ITF, and crews on board were left largely at the mercy of the company’s limited generosity.

One of Leonhardt’s privileged positions inside the German maritime community is that of chairman of the German Shipowners’ Association, VDR. It was from this platform in 2005 that he launched a series of scathing attacks against maritime unions around the world.

In particular, he urged all his German shipping colleges to ignore the rights of international seafarers by refusing to allow any of his flag of convenience vessels to be covered by ITF international minimum standards.

Last year the Japanese ITF inspectorate first raised concerns about the Leonhardt & Blumberg containership, NYK Prestige, chartered to the (normally pro-ITF) NYK Line, on which all attempts to reach a satisfactory crew agreement had failed.

Naturally, we were worried that this could signal a change of attitude by NYK towards the ITF. So the work began in earnest, with the ITF effectively campaigning against the NYK Prestige throughout all her trading ports.

Coordinated actions among affiliated unions included protests against the German embassies and alerts to dockers in countries visited by the NYK Prestige.

Eventually the German union Ver.di hosted an ITF international delegation to visit Leonhardt on his own turf in Hamburg, Germany.

Half an hour before the agreed time Leonhardt cancelled the meeting. Instead, he used the opportunity to try to intimidate coordinators and unions with misguided and ill-informed industrial threats, which only demonstrated his limited understanding of how other countries’ industrial systems operate.

Standing on the steps of the Leonhardt & Blumberg headquarters, Frank Leonhardt’s statements were disappointing to say the least and the entire delegation, which included union representatives from Japan, Australia, Korea, Germany and the UK, left with more resolve than ever.

Our targeted campaign continued to gain momentum throughout the ITF network, receiving strong support from ITF affiliates and all our inspectorates.

Many coordinated international actions took place against the German owners and the charterers, using a mixture of political and legal activities. These eventually led to the signing of an ITF uniform (“total crew cost”) agreement for three Leonhardt & Blumberg vessels – NYK Prestige, Cap Lobos and the Damascus.

Our fight to protect Leonhardt & Blumberg seafarers is now in full swing, with new strategies continuing to develop around the campaign.

This has evolved into an exciting and dynamic movement reaching around the globe. It will not be over until the whole Leonhardt & Blumberg fleet is covered by ITF-approved agreements.

Congratulations to those seafarers who are now protected by agreements, and to those union activists in all countries who make these things possible.

Dean Summers is the ITF coordinator in Australia.

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Issue 24 July 2006

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