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Outside In | How global Covid-19 policy failures leave seafarers to suffer

  • The seafarers who staff the world’s merchant vessels and keep its supply chains running have been plunged into an unprecedented crisis during the pandemic
  • Border closures, port lockdowns, travel protocols, quarantines and visa restrictions have created a nightmare for seafarers stuck at sea or unemployed at home

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Seafarers arrive for a crew change at Hoi Fai Road Promenade in Tai Kok Tsui on July 26, 2020. Photo: Edmond So
On Wednesday, the now-infamous Ever Given container ship headed for Rotterdam. After blocking the Suez Canal for six days in March and snarling global sea trade, it weighed anchor after being impounded through a three-month compensation dispute between the Suez Canal Authority and the ship’s Japanese owner Shoei Kisen Kaisha.
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Lloyd’s List said at the time that the Ever Given blockage cost an estimated US$9.6 billion per day of trade along a waterway that carries over 10 per cent of global sea cargo. The Suez Canal Authority sued the ship’s owners for almost US$1 billion over revenue and reputational losses. The Wall Street Journal reported this week that it finally accepted around US$200 million, though the actual compensation deal remains confidential.

But the victims of the blockage were far more numerous. More than 18,000 containers with an estimated value of US$600 million to US$700 million have spent the past three months stuck on board. They included cargoes for major international groups such as Ikea and Lenovo and smaller British traders such as EasyEquipment and Snuggy.

Journalists on a nearby boat film the Ever Given container ship sailing along Egypt’s Suez Canal near the canal’s central city of Ismailia on July 5. The ship that blocked the Suez Canal for six days in March headed for Rotterdam on July 7 after Egyptian authorities and the Japanese owner agreed on a compensation deal. Photo: AFP
Journalists on a nearby boat film the Ever Given container ship sailing along Egypt’s Suez Canal near the canal’s central city of Ismailia on July 5. The ship that blocked the Suez Canal for six days in March headed for Rotterdam on July 7 after Egyptian authorities and the Japanese owner agreed on a compensation deal. Photo: AFP

There is another community of Ever Given victims that has remained largely invisible and unreported – the crew members who were trapped on board the ship since it ran aground on March 23. Such shipping disputes embroil thousands of seafarers every year. Crew like those on the Ever Given remain trapped on board for the duration of the disputes. Contracts often expire, and wages often do not get paid.

Millions of news reports have been devoted to lockdowns, mortality rates, economic costs and frontline workers during the past 18 months. In that time, the roughly 1.6 million seafarers who staff the world’s merchant vessels and have kept global supply chains running with minimal disruption have been plunged into an unprecedented crisis.

At the heart of their particular pandemic crisis – much of it played out invisibly, far out to sea – has been a crew change crisis. Border closures, port lockdowns, strictly enforced travel protocols, flight cancellations, quarantines and visa restrictions have created a nightmare challenge for seafarers trying to get to a ship to begin their contract or to get off a ship to travel home when their contract is finished.

In normal times, around 100,000 seafarers rotate on or off their merchant ships in a given month. After five months of mind-numbing, 12-hour shifts seven days a week, they normally fly home for a month back with their families before flying out again to begin another cycle.

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