Programme:
8.30am – 9.30am: Breakfast on the terrace of the Yacht Club de Monaco
9.30: Conference & debate on The ILO Convention: its potential effects on superyachting.
Chaired by Tork Buckley, editor of The Yacht Report (Simultaneous translation)

The Annual Captains Breakfast hosted by the Yacht Club de Monaco in collaboration with The Yacht Report and ASCOMA was extremely well attended this year. More than 130 turned up and for the first time a group of non captains - the crew recruitment agents - were also invited. Why this 35% increase in numbers and the new invitees? The Simple answer is in three letters ILO. The topic of discussion was the MLC 2006 or Maritime Labour Convention. Though not yet ratified it is likely to come into force around 2010 and the superyacht Industry was not consulted by ILO during its development. To try to explain and debate how this will affect superyachting and to discuss what may be done to ensure that impact is beneficial panellists were carefully selected form a spread on the superyacht activities; Espen Oieno for design, Greg Evans of Cayman Islands Registry for the legal and fiscal aspects and Rod Hatch for the Owner and operators’ viewpoint. Editor of the Yacht Report Tork Buckley chaired the meeting and asked each panelist gave a brief presentation of how this issue faces their sector. Finally, he gave an idea of what their take would be and how they can or may interpret the convention at a practical level. The topic is way too complicated to go into in any depth. An overview of the MLC and points raised in the meet will be in an article in issue 99 of the Yacht Report. Transcripts of the meeting will be available online in the next 7 days. If the conclusion can be summed in up in a few words it is that MLC is coming and we will need to work with Flag and Port state to ensure its appropriate application to superyachting. It is likely that it won’t be as scary as was perhaps suspected. The widely quoted need for 7 square metres of floor space in a crew cabin might render a 28m charter yacht free of any guest accommodation were that strictly adhered to. However, in the discussion we learned that flag will likely use the latitude for interpretation the convention allows them and consider the overall quality of accommodation and comfort crew have. There is no doubt though that overcrowded accommodation for crew will no longer be allowed, nor will non payment or bad treatment of crew. And, to be fair who could argue for any other viewpoint? Though ratification may not be the major problem that was feared, debate and indeed the lobbying and planning segments of the industry need to do – such as those in crew placement – should not be underestimated. This debate and industry planning for MLC ratification will continue. Fortunately, we are mobilised early with some two years to go so have time to affect the impact of MLC 2006. More discussions may take place during GSF so watch the MLC 7 sq.m space!