Shipping enquiry

The RMT maritime union has called for urgent action to end the erosion of standards on UK-flagged ships, following the grounding of the Napoli off the Devon coast.

RMT says the incident underlines the growing problem of sub-standard vessels on the UK register. It has called for an urgent investigation and an end to UK shipowners' exemption from the 1976 Race Relations Act "which allows them to discriminate against non-UK nationals and pay exploitative wage rates".