Court ruling could bar non-EU mariners from German waters
A British shipowner has written to the UK government urging action following a court ruling that appears to bar non-German crews from vessels working on construction projects in Germany’s territorial waters.
Germany’s Federal Administrative Court has deemed that mariners from outside the EU need a residence permit to work within 19km of the German coast.
The ruling is the culmination of a long legal battle following the removal by German police of two overseas seafarers from the 1983-built, 81m-loa multipurpose support vessel, Atlantic Tonjer, in 2017.
Castle Ship Management, the vessel’s owners, wrote to the British minister of transport Grant Shapps and said that the decision effectively means that UK vessels and seafarers will not be able to work in German waters.
Paul Crowther, the company’s chief commercial, officer said: “This does of course put us, all British ship managers and owners, at a competitive disadvantage and effectively creates a closed market in German territorial waters.”
