U.S. lawmakers call for action on allegations of sexual assault at sea

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WASHINGTON, Oct. 13 (Reuters) – U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday urged the Department of Transportation to take action to address persistent allegations of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment made by aspirants at the government’s main school to merchant seamen.

Lawmakers have said a “toxic culture” has allowed sexual abuse to escalate and go unchallenged at the US Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA), which works with major shipping lines to prepare new recruits for a life in. sea.

Senator Maria Cantwell, who chairs the trade committee, said in a letter to the Maritime Administration (MARAD) that many alleged incidents have occurred during the Midshipmen’s “Year of the Sea”, where second-year and junior aspirants spend part of their academic year at sea working primarily on private activities. merchant navy ships learning first-hand skills.

“Many of these allegations involve a repeated pattern of crimes and intimidation committed by those in positions of power and responsibility on merchant ships, and include alleged poor surveillance or political failures by USMMA officials and officials. Coast Guard investigators, ”Cantwell wrote.

The chairman of the House of Commons Transport and Infrastructure Committee, Peter DeFazio, and Salud Carbajal, chairman of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transport subcommittee, said in a joint statement that “this pattern of abuse in the shipping industry and the Sea Year program in particular has gone on for far too long we need to reform the toxic culture that has allowed this problem to fester, and not stop until our seas are safe for all the world.”

The world’s largest shipping company, AP Moller-Maersk (MAERSKb.CO), has suspended five employees in an investigation into an alleged sexual assault on one of its ships operated by a US subsidiary, and said she was working closely with US authorities, Reuters reported on Tuesday. Read more

A cadet, who has remained anonymous, wrote in a blog post that she was a 19-year-old virgin when she was raped by a 60-year-old 1st Engineer on board the ship Maersk during the Year of the Sea.

Maersk Line Limited (MLL), the US subsidiary of the AP Moller-Maersk group working with the US government to support military, government and humanitarian missions, participates in the Sea Year program where it has trained 732 cadets since 2017.

A MARAD spokesperson said the agency was aware of the cadet’s alleged rape, adding that USMMA referred him back to the coast guard on September 28.

“We have zero tolerance for sexual assault and sexual harassment at USMMA and in the shipping industry,” the spokesperson added.

The Coast Guard said it was “aware of an allegation of sexual assault on board a US-flagged commercial freighter and is currently investigating.”

Reporting by David Shepardson and Daniel Trotta; Editing by Stephen Coates

Our Standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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