In a letter to shipping minister Robert Goodwill, the Union warns that maritime policy objectives are being threatened by a wave of job losses — several thousand of them in the offshore support vessel sector.
General secretary Mark Dickinson said the government’s Maritime Growth Study plans to boost British shipping and seafaring — which were published in September — are being jeopardised by such moves as Maersk Line’s decision to re-register its last six UK-flagged containerships and a stream of cutbacks in the North Sea.