The World Health Organization and International Labour Organization are launching a task force to ensure that crew changes amid travel restrictions put in place to combat to Covid-19 omicron variant.
The two United Nations agencies announced the creation of the action group on Monday following a meeting with various global transportation groups, including the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) and the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF).
"The Covid-19 pandemic remains a public health emergency of international concern that continues to adversely impact human health globally, and international trade and travel," said Tedros Ghebreyesus, director general of the WHO.
"Protecting the health of cross border transport workers and maintaining travel operations for emergency and humanitarian missions, essential personnel, repatriations and cargo transport of essential supplies is of critical importance."
Alongside shipowners group ICS and union ITF, the International Road Transport Union and the International Air Transport Association were parties to the talks and will be members of the group.
Following the emergence of the omicron variant in November, countries all over the world instituted travel bans that the transportation groups said would threaten a global supply chain already dealing with extreme congestion.
On the world's oceans, travel restrictions put in place at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic stranded seafarers aboard their ships, creating a crew change crisis that saw as many as 400,000 unable to return home.
That number declined significantly as countries reopened their borders, even as shipping industry calls for governments to provide key worker status to seafarers went unheeded.
The WHO and ILO said plans were underway to create a Covid-19 vaccine document, mimicking the existing internationally-recognised yellow card vaccine documentation, to ease movement.
According to statistics from top ship managers compiled by the Neptune Declaration, just under half of seafarers had been vaccinated through the end of November.
"We need governments to urgently protect the health and safety of cross-border workers if they want a holiday season that is anywhere near normal," ICS general secretary Guy Platten said.
"It's really worrying to see last year's draconian travel restrictions starting to reappear in many countries, especially as millions of transport workers have been making enormous sacrifices for scant recognition for nearly two years."
