‘We are not sure when we will get home’: the stranded seafarers who kept world trade afloat during Covid

‘We are not sure when we will get home’: the stranded seafarers who kept world trade afloat during Covid
Dean Kirby April 2, 2021 https://inews.co.uk/news/long-reads/stranded-seafarers-who-kept-world-tr...

Hundreds of thousands of hidden keyworkers are still enduring what has been described as a humanitarian crisis as they continue to move essential supplies across the globe

They are the forgotten men and women of the pandemic – the seafarers who have kept world trade afloat through the coronavirus storm. But hundreds of thousands of these hidden keyworkers are still enduring what has been described by mariners’ welfare groups as a humanitarian crisis as they continue to move essential supplies across the globe.

Unions estimate that more than 200,000 seafarers are currently stranded on board cargo vessels. They are working long hours and unable to get shore leave as many countries continue to keep their borders locked down.

And while millions of British homeworkers and school children have been able to access meetings and lessons on Zoom, many merchant seafarers unable to get ashore have struggled to keep in contact with their families due to intermittent Wi-Fi on the high seas.

“There is a humanitarian crisis facing the seafaring men and women around the world, and it is not subsiding,” Ben Bailey, director of advocacy at the Mission to Seafarers, which was launched in 1856, told i.

“Largely unseen despite their vital role in the world’s economy, they are bearing the brunt of the crisis. The pandemic has prevented them from returning home to their loved ones and new crews from being deployed. Some are in their 14th month of working at sea.

“Crews have contacted our teams to express their frustration, seek advice and support, but the situation has been so intense for some they have taken their own lives.”

The world’s 65,000 cargo ships that supply 90 per cent of everything that people wear, buy, drive or eat are out of sight and out of mind for most people until an international incident such as the stranding of the Ever Given in the Suez Canal last week brings them to the forefront of people’s attention.

A recent report found the coronavirus pandemic has thrown international shipping into “disarray” and is pushing crews to their physical and mental limits, while one seafarer with children has told i tight border restrictions meant he only had six weeks at home last year.

“The only time I could video call my family was when I was in a port,” he said. “I had to pay with my own data and that call alone cost £20. A lot of the guys on the supply vessels have no chance of keeping in touch with home in a situation like this.”

It is feared the issue could lead to even bigger consequences for the safety of crew, ships and marine wildlife.

In September, the International Transport Workers’ Federation, which represents 1.4 million seafarers, said the responses returned in a survey of members used the language of prisons, with some reporting missing funerals and weddings.

The survey found that three in five felt they were more likely to be involved in an accident that could threaten lives or the marine environment due to fatigue.

One Indian crew member said they were working up to 18 hours a day and another from the Philippines, who has been at sea for 11 months, described being “mentally exhausted”.

After the ill-fated MV Wakashio ran aground on a coral reef and split in two causing a major oil spill off the coast of Mauritius last July – sparking one of the Indian Ocean’s worst environmental disasters – the captain was reported to have claimed he was sailing close to shore to get a better Wi-Fi signal so the crew could communicate with their families to “keep morale high”. Other issues faced by seafarers include a lack of access to medicine, such as medication for HIV, and access to treatment at hospitals in ports.

In January this year, the captain of a Russian ship complained that Chinese authorities had refused to allow his chief engineer to go ashore for emergency treatment for a life-threatening condition. “We are spending our lives at sea, not sure when we will go home,” Captain Tymur Rudov said at the time in a video appeal for help. “What do we get in reward? We are not even allowed to be ill. We just have to die. We are prisoners and our freedom is sacrificed in order to maintain worldwide trading.”

The UK Government is acknowledged to have taken a leading global role in improving conditions by securing an international agreement for seafarers to be recognised as keyworkers and exempting them from “red list” travel bans – meaning they can enter England without needing to quarantine in a government-approved hotel.

Maritime minister Robert Courts says that the UK remains “steadfast in the protection of all seafarers in the UK”.

“The Government has already worked to repatriate over 20,000 crew members from around the world and will work with domestic and international partners to help bring more seafarers home to their loved ones,” he said.

However, crew members arriving home in Scotland earlier this month after working off the coast of Angola said they were left stranded “like prisoners” in a quarantine hotel in Edinburgh after arriving hours before exemption rules were updated north of the border.

One seafarer stranded at the hotel has told i on condition of anonymity that they had to wait up to four hours for security guards to escort them downstairs for a 15-minute cigarette break.

“Locking us up in a hotel like this away from our families is totally immoral. It’s horrendous,” he said.

The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) the global trade association for ship owners and operators, has also spoken of its concerns with governments around the world continuing to keep their borders shut.

Much of the responsibility lies with international governments and while the situation has eased from last year, increased travel restrictions internationally due to the spread of new Covid-19 variants will only make it harder still for new crews to transfer between ships.

So far, only 55 countries have declared seafarers as keyworkers. Guy Platten, the Secretary General of the ICS, said earlier this month the situation is “stark” and only “a few handfuls of countries have treated seafarers with the respect they deserve”.

Seafarers’ bodies are now urging governments across the world to open their ports to follow the UK Government’s lead and allow shipping companies to change crews and allow sailors to go ashore and to also issue them with
vaccination jabs.

More than 700 organisations and companies, including the UK’s National Maritime Museum, have also a signed the Neptune Declaration on Seafarer Wellbeing and Crew Change(https://www.globalmaritimeforum.org/neptune-declaration/), which calls on governments to take urgent action to safeguard their rights and welfare.

“It’s remarkable that a year into this crisis there remain a significant proportion of seafarers who find themselves working on vessels months beyond their initial contracts,” says Fabrizio Barcellona, ITF’s seafarers’ co-ordinator.

“There is a persistent minority of this workforce who have spent more than 12 or 18 months on board. They are missing their families. They are missing seeing their children grow up.”