BBC : Seafarers in limbo as coronavirus hits shipping
1,6million seafarers, on 50,000 tankers and cargo carriers in the midst of coronavirus pandemic 19
With the world in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the shipping industry is already feeling the impact as the global economy heads into a deep recession.
Hundreds of ship sailings have been cancelled as first ports in China, and then across the globe, have seen trade fall away – with millions of workers and consumers in lockdown.
Caught in the centre of this have been the world’s 1.6 million seafarers, on 50,000 tankers and cargo carriers. Many of them are unable to leave their ships, or find themselves stuck in hotels without pay and unable to get flights home.
Every month, 100,000 merchant mariners come to the end of their contracts on a their ships and need to be flown home. But the pandemic has halted this.
“Working at sea is often described as similar to being in prison, except there is no TV,” says former ship’s navigator Nick Chubb.
“Though my experience was usually positive, a feeling of deep fatigue sets in towards the end of a contract. I once had a four-month contract on an oil tanker extended by three weeks, and found it incredibly difficult to deal with.
“Some of these seafarers have spent nine months away from their families already. And it’s not looking particularly likely they’ll be able to go home any time soon,” adds Mr Chubb, who is now a director for the maritime technology intelligence platform Thetius.
The world’s biggest shipping firm, AP Moller-Maersk, is one of those which has halted its crew changes, and says its done so to protect them, by lessening the number of social interactions they need to have.
It adds that “the rapid changes to global travel poses a risk of stranding seafarers in locations from where they are unable to leave, or get sufficient assistance”.
