K. Oanh Ha, Jack Wittels, Khine Lin Kyaw and Krystal Chia
September 18, 2020
With 300,000 workers stranded on merchant ships, Bloomberg found dozens of labor violations that threaten seafarers’ safety, as well as the global supply chain.
On July 25, the Unison Jasper pulled into the Australian port of Newcastle carrying 31,000 tons of alumina bound for one of the country’s largest smelters. The ship had traveled around the world in the seven months since the pandemic began, but in Australia, authorities found a problem serious enough to detain the vessel.