Union calls for Nazi-named ship ban

The international transport Union ITF is demanding that the Pieter Schelte, arguably the largest ship in the world, is renamed. ITF has launched an online petition in which oil and gas company Shell is invoked to not hire the ship if its name is not changed. Shell wants to use the vessel for servicing its offshore platforms (Brent platforms) in the North Sea. A spokesperson for Shell has confirmed that they are aware of the petition, but have not been directly approached by the ITF. The group would give no further comment, Het Parool reports. The ship is named after the Dutchman Pieter Schelte Heerema (1908 - 1981) who served as an officer in the Waffen SS. "For Allseas to name its vessel after a convicted Nazi war criminal is utterly shameful", said ITF president Paddy Crumlin on the union's website. "T even countenance honouring a Waffen-SS officer just shows how twisted, arrogant and out of touch Allseas management is." One of Pieter Schelte Heerema's sons is the CEO of Allseas. In a response a spokesperson for Allseas said that the company does not intend to change the name of the ship. The ship being named after a Waffen SS officer has also caused a lot of anger in Jewish communities and Holocaust memorial groups.