Maritime charity Stella Maris is highlighting the vital need for personal, human contact for seafarers in a world operating amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Abandonment
Ship abandonment is a sinister and dangerous issue for the industry – and in 2020 cases soared to a record high. More than twice as many seafarers were abandoned in 2020 compared to 2019.
Data from the International Maritime Organisation shows there were 76 cases involving more than 1,000 seafarers, mostly in the Middle East and Asia. By comparison, 2019 saw 40 cases of abandonment involving 474 seafarers.
Abandoned seafarers face a perilous situation, and there’s no doubt the Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated the issue. They may be adrift at sea or stranded in a foreign land with no supplies, no wages, no fuel and scant means of communication.
Human rights abuses
More than 40 million people are in some form of slavery today according to the International Labour Organisation, including more than 24 million in forced labour. With many seafarers coming from nations which may have human rights challenges, the global shipping industry is at risk of modern slavery.
Our chaplains dealt with a number of modern slavery cases in 2020. And we know this is just the tip of the iceberg: seafarers are mistreated every day, but captains refuse to let them leave the vessel so the exploitation continues out of sight
says the report.
Death at sea
Deaths at sea have increased over the past few years. Meanwhile, the number of seafarer suicides is still not officially recorded. Tragically, Stella Maris suggests that these have increased during the Covid-19 pandemic as seafarers struggle under huge pressure.
Medical support
Despite all the precautions, Covid-19 inevitably reached seafarers and a number of crews were struck down with the virus. The worst affected were admitted to hospital.
Non-payment of wages
Non-payment of wages remains one of the biggest issues for seafarers, and accounted for more than a quarter of all crisis cases we dealt with in 2020.
Stella Maris dealt with 17 wage cases in 2020, supporting seafarers in 3 cases relating to working hours.
Piracy
Incidents of piracy and armed robbery increased by 25% in 2020 – up from 78 in the first half of 2019 to 98 cases in the first half of 2020.
It was a horrific experience and seafarers explained that they’d been very frightened. They also expressed delight that companies had sent welfare organisations to provide emotional and spiritual support to them
said a Stella Maris chaplain.
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