COLUMN | Shore leave for crews: is it really too easy to say "no"? [Grey Power]

My view, for what it is worth, is that we should highlight the very best examples of welcoming ports, but shame those who offer seafarers nothing but grief.

Some years ago, the shipping industry got very exercised about ports that refused to provide decent waste reception facilities and set about shaming them, and within a short space of time, it made a difference. Shipowners and charterers, who are the customers of ports and without whom the ports would simply silt up and die, could be a lot more robust in ensuring that their shipboard staff were treated in a civilised fashion by ports and terminals.

They should, figuratively speaking, be rocking the boat a lot more.