‘I am proud that Bristol is actively tackling the hidden cruelty of modern slavery at sea’

Being a councillor for Avonmouth and Lawrence Weston brings with it the challenges and opportunities associated with having a section of coastline and one of the UK’s major ports in your ward.

When I was newly elected and the committee work was being shared out, I jumped at the opportunity of being on the Bristol Port Welfare Committee; it looked interesting and I thought a local councillor should be the one to take up the role. It’s been a surprisingly steep learning curve.

The Merchant Navy Welfare Board has a statutory duty to oversee the welfare of seafarers who come to this country and runs committees covering the whole of the UK. The Bristol committee includes the ports of Portbury, Avonmouth and Sharpness. We meet every three months and, of the many committees I sit on, this one has the most eclectic membership.

The committee is comprised of the port owners and the shipping agents represented by an organisation known as the Bristol Steamship Owners’ Association, which contributes generously to welfare activities.

There’s a Bristol City Council environmental health officer who is assigned to the port and checks incoming foodstuffs, certifies ships’ kitchens, keeps a lookout for incoming infectious diseases and even deals with the sad occasions when a passenger on a cruise ship dies on the voyage.

The hugely under-resourced Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) attend as they’re able; they have the power, if rarely the capacity, to impound unseaworthy vessels which arrive in UK waters.

Also in attendance is a sergeant from the Port of Bristol Police, a police force which has been in existence since 1884 and has a memorandum of understanding with Avon & Somerset Constabulary, as well as a Border Force officer who also has Cardiff Airport in her patch.

Central to the committee’s work are a number of largely church-based societies which care for retired as well as current merchant seafarers.

Despite Britain’s maritime heritage, most working seafarers now come from countries such as India, the Philippines and Turkey, where labour is cheap and labour laws less stringent. It’s not unusual to find poorly dressed and badly treated seafarers arriving in Bristol in need of support.

At Portbury there is a Seafarers’ Centre where the welfare groups provide every kind of help that might be needed. Often it’s a phonecard to contact family, sometimes a chat and sometimes just one of the woolly hats which are knitted by volunteers from the Bristol area.

It could also be that a seafarer has health problems, is being bullied, or hasn’t been paid. In very serious cases the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) will be contacted by the ships visitors.

A particularly distressing situation materialised in 2017 at Sharpness Docks in rural Gloucestershire. Not perhaps the place you’d expect to find a case of modern slavery.

The Panama-registered MV Tahsin was impounded by the MCA after its unpaid crew were found to be living off out-of-date food and having to drink seawater. The five Turks, two Indians and two Georgians were rescued by a joint intervention from the MCA and ITF.

Whilst stranded on ship the beleaguered crew were visited daily by local church members who took them fruit until they could be repatriated many months later. The ship itself was held for much longer until the MCA were able to resolve all other outstanding issues.

I’m proud that Bristol is not only aware of the reality of modern slavery at sea but actively tackling this hidden cruelty. Partnership between public, private, voluntary and faith sectors has been key, and this is something Bristol can be very good at when we’ve identified a common concern.

Modern slavery is such an obvious evil to bring us together; but perhaps if we look closely inside our city there are many other causes that should give us reason to transcend our organisational boundaries.

Don Alexander is Labour councillor for Avonmouth & Lawrence Weston ward, which also includes Shirehampton, Coombe Dingle and Upper Sea Mills. As well as representing Bristol City Council on the Bristol Port Welfare Committee, Don also serves as the chair of one of the council’s planning committees, the Overview & Scrutiny Management Board, Resources Scrutiny Commission, and the Public Rights of Way & Greens Committee.

Main photo: Bristol mayor Marvin Rees becomes the first council leader to sign the Cooperative Party’s Modern Slavery Charter; with Don Alexander and other members of Bristol’s Port Welfare Committee in City Hall