Windship Association official fundraises for ISWAN

The secretary Secretary General of the International Windship Association Gavin Allwright, has set up a crowdfunding appeal to fundraising for ISWAN during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mr Allwright says 'while much of the shipping industry take their responsibilities to their seafarers very seriously there is still a real challenge facing many seafarers from the poorer regions of the world.

'Many are in lock down with casual contracts and unable to work, others are facing difficulties due to lock downs when they leave ships and are unable to return to their families with costs and little income coming in and there are even some reports of seafarers being shunned on their return to their homes for fears of the virus. There is also the issue of their families not having an income in order to get by.'

All funds raised will go straight to the International Seafarers' Welfare and Assistance Network (ISWAN), a UK registered charity, and dispersed through their Seafarers Emergency Fund (SEF). Their membership includes seafarer associations throughout the developing world alongside shipping companies and shipping organisations.

Mr Allwright says ISWAN has agreed to ring-fence the donations from this campaign ensuring that 100% of all funds raised will be made available to developing world recipients and all administration costs will be covered by the charity.

• donate to the Crowdfunder emergency support for developing world seafarers appeal
• the Windship Association is a not-for-profit grouping of maritime wind propulsion companies and projects, promoting wind propulsion 
• Mr Allwright also sits on the International Maritime Organisation's Maritime Technology Cooperation Centres (MTCC) stakeholder’s advisory committee