Shipping’s largest employers’ body and seafarers' union are calling for charter contracts to include a clause that will allow ships the flexibility to divert and repatriate crew.

The call comes as a part of a joint statement from the Joint Negotiating Group (JNG) and the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) crew union agreeing that seafarers should not be forced to extend their contracts.

The two parties usually sit on opposite sides of the negotiating table but have said they are united on the issue of ending the crew-change crisis.

“We urgently call for cargo owners, operators, charterers and brokers to agree charterparty agreements that allow flexibility for shipowners and managers to divert ships and call at ports where crew change is possible, without penalty,” the joint statement read.

The statement said JNG members had worked tirelessly to allow crew change, but some 400,000 seafarers remain working on board ships beyond their contracted period.

The JNG and ITF said crew should no longer be “coerced” to work beyond their contracted period and should be allowed to “exercise their human right to stop working, leave ships and return home”.

International Maritime Employers’ Council chairman Belal Ahmed said: “It is important seafarers are not disadvantaged for standing up for themselves when they have completed their contracts, and are mentally and physically not ready to continue to work safely.”

ITF general secretary Stephen Cotton said seafarers are experiencing “real fear” of blacklisting if they refuse to extend their contracts.

“It is more important than ever during this crew-change crisis that seafarers are able to speak up," Cotton said. "We will come down hard on anyone in the industry who thinks they can get away with targeting seafarers who use their right to reject contract extensions.”