News & articles

On 12 September, members of the maritime industry gathered virtually to see ISWAN honoured with a Certificate of Appreciation for its work for seafarers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

The event was hosted by The Nautical Institute (NI), which recognised the ‘hard work, commitment and personal sacrifice’ of ISWAN’s regional and helpline teams in serving the needs of seafarers and their families worldwide. Capt. Vinod Naveen, AFNI, Honorary Secretary of NI India (South West), highlighted that ISWAN had achieved global recognition since forming from the International Committee on Seafarers’ Welfare (ICSW).

ISWAN’s Executive Director Roger Harris thanked NI for this honour and expressed his appreciation for ISWAN’s passionate team working hard for the welfare of seafarers. ISWAN’s Director of Regions Chirag Bahri spoke about the organisation’s Regional Programme and how its staff had been working around the clock throughout the pandemic to support those in need.

The Maritime Union of India’s Women’s Wing was also honoured at the event for its work with women seafarers and seafarers’ wives.

ISWAN would like to thank The Nautical Institute, our key funders (the ITF Seafarers’ Trust, Seafarers UK, The TK Foundation and Trafigura Foundation) and the network of organisations we work with for their overwhelming support. There are still seafarers awaiting sign-off at sea and we will continue to work towards getting them home quickly and safely.