TRANSPORT union RMT called for urgent reform to seafarers’ working conditions today after a new report revealed a lack of access to shore leave across the shipping industry.

The research, by the World Maritime University and the International Transport Federation Seafarers Trust, surveyed 6,000 seafarers working on bulk carriers, car carriers, container ships, passenger ferries, offshore vessels and cruise ships.

It found that 26 per cent got no shore leave at all, while nearly 70 per cent reported either not going ashore or going only one or three times during an entire contract.