Synopsis
The situation has raised concerns over safety, as overworked crews increase the risk of serious maritime accidents.
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The ICS estimates there are about 1.6 million seafarers serving on the world’s merchant fleet that carries 90% of global trade.
Hundreds of thousands of seafarers risk being stuck at sea beyond the expiry of their contracts because of India’s surging coronavirus outbreak, according to one of the world’s largest independent crude ship owners.
The situation suggests that a maritime labor crisis sparked by the pandemic is continuing into 2021, as a growing number of major ports around the world restrict entry to Indian crew members, which constitute about 15% of the world’s total.
New Neptune Declaration Crew Change Indicator takes the temperature of the crew change crisis
Data from top 10 ship managers on their seafarers is the basis of an indicator which provides up-to-date information on the impact of the crew change crisis and will allow for the monitoring of developments over time. The Neptune Declaration Crew Change Indicator is part of the ongoing efforts that a multi-stakeholder taskforce is undertaking to resolve the situation.
Well into the second year of the coronavirus pandemic, the crew change crisis remains unresolved. Despite the concerted efforts by international organizations and companies, seafarers are still unable to disembark from vessels while new strains of Covid-19 create a risk of making the situation worse. Currently, data that gives access to the number of seafarers who are impacted by the crew change crisis is limited. The new Neptune Declaration Crew Change Indicator aims to inform the situation.
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Phtoto: Anglo Eastern
Bjorn Hoojgaard The global crew change crisis resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic is far from over and is set to be even worse this year according to top ship managers.
The new Neptune Declaration Crew Change Indicator surveying 10 leading ship managers presents what on the face of it a situation that looks to be far improved over last year, however, as border restrictions are reinstated with the Covid crisis in India and the spread of new variants senior executives say the picture is bleak.
The first Indicator shows that by mid-April 2021, 5.8% of seafarers were onboard vessels beyond the expiry of their contracts of employment, and 0.4% of seafarers had been onboard vessels for over 11 months, the maximum period allowed under the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC).
India’s Covid boom is affecting the worldwide shipping industry
India’s huge wave of Covid-19 infections has affected the international maritime industry, as the country is for seafarers, as crews come with the disease and ports deny entry to ships.
Ports such as Singapore and Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates have banned ships from changing crew members who have recently traveled from India, according to notes from maritime authorities. Zhoushan has banned entry into China for ships or crews that have visited India or Bangladesh in the past three months, according to Wilhelmsen Ship Management, a major supplier of marine crews.