Competencies of Ukrainian seafarers are highly valued in the international maritime labor market. That is what makes Ukraine the fourth largest supplier to the global maritime labor market.
More than 52,000 Ukrainian seafarers working on the ships of foreign shipowners are registered with the MTWTU.
Professional advantages of Ukrainian seafarers are very diverse. However they can be grouped into three categories: professional, cultural and geographical.
PROFESSIONAL ADVANTAGES
Professional advantages include high level of training and technical skills, ability to perform several tasks simultaneously, flexibility and quick learnability. Furthermore, maritime educational system of Ukraine is a mixture of traditional and innovative training. Many shipowners note a high level of knowledge of math and physics, which is undoubtedly one of the trumps of our seafarers.
CULTURAL ADVANTAGES
Ukrainian seafarers are known to be hardworking, loyal and tolerant towards other nationalities – in other words, Ukrainians easily find common language with other crewmembers and rarely come into confrontation that allows maintaining positive interpersonal relations onboard.
GEOGRAPHICAL ADVANTAGES
Among the geographical advantages are Ukraine’s location and visa-free regime with the Schengen countries, which make our country more mobile and thus ‘convenient’ for the employer. Besides that, our seafarers are capable to work in unfavorable weather conditions, which is rather difficult, for example, to their Asian colleagues. However, the absolute majority of workplaces are today occupied by Asians – Filipinos, Indians and Chinese
Leart more in the informational leaflet UKRAINIAN SEAFARERS: OPPORTUNITIES FOR FUTURE DEVELOPMENTFOR FUTURE DEVELOPMENT
In Ukraine, the MTWTU exclusively has the right to conclude Collective Bargaining Agreements of the ITF and IBF standard, which provide for the protection of labor rights and decent social benefits to Ukrainian seamen.
The agreement of IBF standard applies to shipowners, who are members of the International Maritime Employers’ Council (IMEC).
To conclude the Collective Agreement please fill out the ITF 16 Point Questionnaire, send it to og@mtwtu.org.ua and we will come back to you shortly.
The samples of other documents may be found here.