Sailors stranded at sea due to Covid: industry launches SOS
Audio 02:02
The container ship of the CMA CGM company.
(Illustrative image) AFP - SAMEER AL-DOUMY
By: Claire Fages Follow
5 mins
300 organizations and companies in the maritime sector are mobilizing against a forgotten humanitarian crisis: hundreds of thousands of sailors have been stranded at sea for months, because of restrictions linked to Covid.
Publicity
There are more and more examples of Indian or Filipino sailors stranded for months off China, Kuwait or New Zealand.
Sometimes without pay for months because their contract has expired.
Prevented from disembarking by the port authorities, who fear the contagion of Covid-19, these crews also do not receive the expected relief by plane.
They would be, according to the International Maritime Chamber, 400,000 crew members stranded at sea for months, and for many for more than eleven months, the maximum limit authorized by the maritime labor convention of the ILO.
CMA-CGM, Shell, Vale, Cargill, Trafigura ... to the rescue of sailors
“
The sailors are hostage to a situation that prevents them from disembarking from their boat.
It is a real humanitarian crisis that is playing out at sea
", estimates the CEO of Ocean Network Express, a container ship company, which appears among the 300 companies to sign this Tuesday the"
Declaration of Neptune on the well-being of sailors and the change of crews
”.
Also appearing there are the International Federation of Transport Workers, the shipping companies AP Moller-Maersk and CMA-CGM, the oil and mining companies Anglo American, Vale, Rio Tinto, Shell, and the trading and agribusiness giants Trafigura, Cargill, Unilever or COSCO.
For all these companies, maritime transport is essential, since it accounts for 90% of world trade.
Essential workers accessing vaccine
The petition calls for four urgent actions.
That the sailors, who allow the whole world to continue to receive food and health products in these times of epidemic, are finally considered as essential workers by the States, as already requested by the United Nations General Assembly in December , and as such have priority access to the vaccine against Covid-19.
That specific sanitary protocols for seafarers be established and above all applied, that charterers and maritime carriers undertake to collaborate to facilitate the change of crews, even if it costs them more.
To this end, air connections be provided for sailors between the main port areas.
“
We all have a duty to take care of sailors
,” says Vitol's head of maritime operations.
Their well-being is essential to the safety and efficiency of operations
”.
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