A pandemic problem no one has solved: Marine workers stuck at sea Travel restrictions have seafarers stuck aboard ships or unable to leave countries. April 10, 2021 8:00am Text size Copy shortlink:
Shipping-industry leaders are scrambling to solve the crisis of thousands of maritime workers who have been stranded because of the coronavirus pandemic. Global attention on the Suez Canal blockage last month gave them a new chance.
Unions, seafarer ministries and multinational ship owners and charterers odd bedfellows in normal times all seized the moment to raise awareness of the plight shipping workers face due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. We spend most of our time arguing with ship owners but the reality is on this one is we ve really pulled together because it is a humanitarian crisis, said Stephen Cotton, general secretary of the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF). The irony of the Suez
Sea Prison : COVID-19 Has Left Hundreds Of Thousands Of Seafarers Stranded
at 8:33 am NPR
On a chilly January morning, the Rev. Mary Davisson climbs up the stern ramp of the Tonsberg, an enormous ship bobbing in the murky waters at the Port of Baltimore. Davisson, the executive director and port chaplain of the Baltimore International Seafarers Center, has spent much of her nearly two-decade career helping foreign crew members arriving in port, whether it is giving them a lift into town to buy personal items or just enjoying a coffee with them.
Nowadays the visits are short, just enough time for her to drop off packages that seafarers had delivered to her home, some magazines and other goodies.
On a chilly January morning, the Rev. Mary Davisson climbs up the stern ramp of the
Tonsberg, an enormous ship bobbing in the murky waters at the Port of Baltimore. Davisson, the executive director and port chaplain of has spent much of her nearly two-decade career helping foreign crew members arriving in port, whether it is giving them a lift into town to buy personal items or just enjoying a coffee with them.
Nowadays the visits are short, just enough time for her to drop off packages that seafarers had delivered to her home, some magazines and other goodies. Since COVID started, we ve been taking them Hershey s Kisses with a little handout that says we can t shake your hand, but we can give you Hershey s Kisses, she says.
Claire Harbage / NPR
Originally published on January 29, 2021 1:49 pm
On a chilly January morning, the Rev. Mary Davisson climbs up the stern ramp of the
Tonsberg, an enormous ship bobbing in the murky waters at the Port of Baltimore. Davisson, the executive director and port chaplain of the Baltimore International Seafarers Center, has spent much of her nearly two-decade career helping foreign crew members arriving in port, whether it is giving them a lift into town to buy personal items or just enjoying a coffee with them.
Nowadays the visits are short, just enough time for her to drop off packages that seafarers had delivered to her home, some magazines and other goodies.
And many of those men and women shouldn t have to be on those vessels.
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Fuelled by the Covid-19 pandemic, the crew change crisis has dragged on for months. The International Chamber of Shipping and International Transport Workers Federation has said that some 400,000 seafarers are now forced to work beyond their contract.
This is a humanitarian crisis, as the International Labour Organization described the situation in a recent statement.
Expressing deep concern for the situation, an ILO committee said inaction by its member states on the crew change could amount to forced labour .