Introducing A New Partnership Between ShipMoney And ISWAN
International maritime payment solutions provider ShipMoney is delighted to announce the launch of a new initiative: ShipMoney Cares.
The initiative will launch on November 18th at the Crew Connect conference in Manila and will be available to seafarers and their families–including parents, spouses, children, and siblings–who can demonstrate that they or their family are experiencing some form of hardship that impacts their livelihood or income. ShipMoney Cares will be managed by ISWAN and is designed to provide one-time financial grants to seafarers in need, which could include medical or educational support. ShipMoney along with its strategic remittance partners will make a sizable annual donation to the program. There is a maximum grant of $500 and seafarers can apply once a year.
Stuart Ostrow, President of ShipMoney stated “We are very excited about this initiative. As a company, it’s very important that we give back to the community that supports us. It’s ingrained in our ethos and as one of our core values states ‘It’s always about the crew’. They work for our clients and we work for them. Together with ISWAN, we will be able to make a real difference in the lives of seafarers who need a helping hand. Once we get this rolling, we will be engaging with our clients, vendors, strategic partners and seafarers to participate alongside us.”
Caitlin Vaughan, Project Manager at ISWAN, said: “This initiative will provide a welcome safety net for seafarers in the Philippines. It differs from our other welfare funds because it is for basic individual grants of $50 – $500. Seafarers, or their family members, in need of an urgent small grant will receive a ShipMoney prepaid card allowing autonomy as to how the money is used to best alleviate their hardship.
About ISWAN
The International Seafarers’ Welfare and Assistance Network (ISWAN) is a membership organisation which works to promote and support the welfare of seafarers all over the world.
Seafarers bring us 95% of the things we use every day and take care of us when we travel by sea, but their lives are often tough. They experience long periods away from family and friends with limited or no communication, fast turnaround of ships in ports with severely restricted shore leave, reduced crew numbers and increased workloads. Welfare services and facilities both on board and ashore can be a lifeline for seafarers.
Our free, 24-hour, multilingual helpline, SeafarerHelp, is one of the direct welfare services we provide to seafarers. Others include our relief funds for seafarers and their family members in need and a range of health information resources.
We work with companies, unions, governments, welfare organisations and ports for the implementation of the ILO Maritime Labour Convention, 2006., and we support those who provide welfare services in port and on ships.
