A Change in Norwegian law could make it possible to register ferries in the Norwegian International Ship Register (NIS) and it may later threaten Danish jobs, predicts Søfartens Ledere in Maritime Denmark.
Color Line has lobbied for a change in the law to permit the registration of ferries on routes such as Kiel in NIS. This would permit the employment of foreign workers at lower wages.
Ledere writes that “shipping companies such as DFDS and Fjord Line will be able to choose to join the NIS, in order to get the same access to cheap foreign labour as Color Line”.
“As we understand it, it will primarily be able to affect the jobs that are outside the operating and safety crew in the passenger ships, so our primary member groups do not seem to be at risk,” said Fritz Ganzhorn, Director of Søfartens Ledere.