The global supply chain is a fragile system consisting of numerous links, and disruption to one can send cascading effects down the chain that need to function properly for the whole system to work.
The Covid-19 pandemic turned out to be an event of such magnitude. While operating costs for the container have increased, the surge in freight rate not only served the companies in covering the expenses but container ship operators also reported record profit margins as high as 56% compared to an average of 8.5% annually.
The story to be told isn’t about the market and the outstanding profit, it’s about 1.89 million seafarers serving worldwide merchant fleets, operating over 74,000 vessels around the globe. How life changed for them, what Covid offered and took away.
While commercial shipping remained vital for maintaining global supply chains during the pandemic, measures imposed to control the spread of infection have disrupted crew changes and impacted interactions with port personnel and among crew members on board.
The situation has a two-fold impact on seafarers, the working environment on board with added safety and security issues and lengthened contracts which lead to unresolved psychological stress.
From the perspective of the shipping industry, the pandemic assisted to discover that a healthy, highly-skilled, and motivated workforce is needed to support the ever-increasing demand for goods and products transported through a sophisticated supply chain network.
Because the job became more difficult and challenging with nationwide restrictions placed after the outbreak. Just to put things into perspective, around 90% of traded goods all over the world are carried over by the wave. This signifies the magnitude of responsibility for seafarers and concerned shipping companies.
Starting from early 2020 and till today, two long years of strain and pressure on seafarers have negatively impacted their mental health and well-being. When the pandemic was at its peak, over 400,000 seafarers were stranded on board ships, as the whole world overlooked their crucial role and refused to prioritize them for vaccination, immigration, and travel purposes. At the same time, some seafarers found themselves stranded at sea for over a year exempting their contract period.
Simultaneously, the equal number could not join the vessel due to restrictions all over the borders. The first party suffered from psychological impacts while the rest were undergoing financial struggles. Prolong stay onboard causing inability to disembark and being cut off from physical contact with their loved ones.
According to the International Transport Workers’ Federation’s statement published in 2020, This was frequently referred to as a kind of governmentally induced forced labour.
The condition of the seafarers of the developing nations was even worse, due to insufficient access to vaccines limiting the labour supply. Subsequently, policy restrictions implemented to mitigate the impact of the pandemic led to a reluctance by some seafarers to serve on board.
In the context of Bangladesh, more than 10,000 registered seafarers serve in merchant vessels (GSO, 2020) while this sector has contributed around Tk 1,800 crore in foreign remittance in a single year (2018). There is no particular data about their exact status during the pandemic but they suffered the same fate as the rest of the world.
Restriction to come back home, extended workload, no shore leaves, fatigue and so many variables stuffed in the daily life of each seafarer. During the pandemic, around mid-August 2020, an able-bodied seaman lost his mother, who was severely sick for months. He could not go back home to facilitate medical care for her, and due to inefficient hospital management during that period, his family failed to reach out for the best available treatment for her.
Another navigational officer lost his mother in the same fleet, while a young engineer officer was unable to be by his wife’s side during her miscarriage. Uncountable incidents like losing family members, personal health and trauma were only some of the unfortunate realities seafarers worldwide had to face.
Point to note that all these seafarers serving on board, the motivation for them is to keep their loved ones happy, bring solvency, and provide a decent life for the families. And in such a crisis like a pandemic, when a seafarer’s family is in need of his support, nothing is more terrible than not being able to be there for them. This is when they start to think: Is all this worth it? And such thinking in turn affects their work.
Things have started changing gradually, and companies and national agencies are now aware and have started taking steps. Some companies have even hired chartered flights for crew changes, while countries have started opening up their borders in allowing rescue operations or special flights. World citizens, as well as sailors, have helped them by adjusting to the “new normal.”
By the end of 2021, things escalated quickly and the industry reached a tipping point. But now, in early 2022, with the Ukraine war breaking out, oil prices have again started hitting the market as well as the industry. One seafarer from Bangladesh was killed in a shell attack in the Ovia port of Ukraine, the rest of the 28-member crew were rescued later however.
It seems like their struggle and misery is ceaseless. These innocent seafarers have nothing to do with war, and in incidents out of their control -- like wars and pandemics -- their sacrifice and suffering have gone unnoticed for the most part.
To quote Raul Armesto: “The world isn't interested in the storms you encountered, but whether or not you brought in the ship.” The whole shipping and logistic industry runs on monetary variables and the people who are the steering force of this massive operation are largely ignored.
International organizations such as the International Transport Workers’ Federation and the International Labour Organization need to look after the welfare of seafarers. But most people around the globe are unaware of these unsung heroes. In today’s global trade, a large chunk of objects that are used in daily human lives are shipped from other regions.
Seafarers are instrumental in this entire operation. It’s high time that the Bangladeshi government and the general public recognized the contributions of seafarers. God forbid, if another war happens or one more pandemic, we will need them in the field to keep world trade running.
Susmoy Biswas is a marine engineer.
