Sailors lost their lives as a result of the plague

To Raj, a captain from India, how the plague affected the village when he was in another part of the world. In March 2020, when he was ready to oversee oil reserves Blue Butterfly in Quintero, Chile, the government has announced a ban on landing. This means that the master who was to replace him had to stay behind.

“We traveled to the US, then to Europe. It was two and a half months later, when we arrived in Hamburg, when he was allowed to disembark, “said Raj.

With only a handful of professionals experiencing the same stressors as seafarers – as well as many areas of life returning to pre-epidemic standards, shipping companies continue to suffer.

Right the affected numbers have fallen, starting in March this year, 200,000 sailors remained on commercial boats, unable to be repatriated and terminated their operations, according to the comparison and the International Maritime Organization.

At any given time, about 1m are working on cargo ships around the world. The ships they command play an important role in providing medical equipment and ensuring that the world continues to feed and remain happy during the closure. But since the epidemic hit, governments have often left workers without a staff, forcing them to spend longer on unpaid ships than the international community allows.

Although maritime laws are thought to be working worldwide, care is still inconsistent. “Sailors are important people but their support during the epidemic, whether it is their health, vaccination or treatment, depends on many governments and maritime regulators,” said Rajesh Unni, director of the Synergy Marine Group, which provides navigation services and uses. work Raj.

“Our company strives to be supportive, but some countries are under ban [on disembarkation], “Says Raj, supervisor of a group of 22 people.

The permanent duration is six months and the International Labor Organization’s standard is 11 months. “The US, UK and Canada have treated seafarers as human beings. Some, however, especially some near the Black Sea, do not – act as that you are an environmentalist and do not want to be polluted, ”said Raj.

Raymond, a Philippine captain who has worked on other cargo operations around the world, recalls the stress as he waited several months for boarding a train he was supposed to run in March 2020. “My money ran out of debt piled up.

After boarding a ship – in Port Said, Egypt – last August, they found people burning. “The captain I took worked for about six months longer than he should have, it’s almost twice his contract. It must have affected his health… When you are a pilot, even when you rest, you feel like you are working, you just have to focus on the ship.”

Talking to family and friends at home was essential to dealing with the situation, says Catherine Spencer, chief executive officer of Seafarers’ Charity. “The experiences of sailors during a plague have affected mental health. One of the greatest causes of stress is having trouble communicating at sea. ”

In response, last month Synergy, along with Philippine Transmarine Carriers, another shipping company, and Inmarsat, a provider of marine communications technology, launched WeTeam, a free round-the-clock hotline with consultants available in 14 languages. “Good communication technology is available. It’s just that some radio transmissions are better than others, “said Ronald Spithout, President of Inmarsat Maritime.

Raj said the technology became important as the health of one of his co-workers began to decline. “The officer was having problems with his friend, and it was very difficult because of the epidemic. This was my first time being aware of this, I did not know what to do. I called, explained his behavior, and he talked to me and helped me… down from there, and went down to India and returned home. ”

While Raj thinks there are serious communication shortcomings – access to the internet, provided by Synergy for free during the epidemic, left another group to go to the exchange tiredly – he and Raymond have admitted that being able to connect with loved ones has become essential. “As a captain you need to know about mental and emotional health. But most Filipinos don’t feel comfortable talking to each other about their feelings, “Raymond said.” You have to make sure they communicate regularly so that they can go and visit their families. “

It was also important to establish a partnership between his team especially the Filipino and Vietnamese sailors, added Raymond. “As soon as I started climbing and eating, people would just go to their homes. . . What I did was plan for more collaborative events. ”These included karaoke, barbecue and sports.

“It was necessary to evacuate people from their rooms and spend time together, in a smoke room, playing tennis,” Raj admitted.

When workers go down, excluding people is different. Raymond was forced to stay for seven days in a hotel in the Philippines; when things were going well for him, he had heard others complain.

Some governments view sailors as workers, and give them priority over vaccinations. India has reduced the time between first and second rounds of sailors from 84 to 28 days, Raj said. The Philippines, a country that offers the highest number of sailors in the world, also said that partners have been among the first to receive the vaccine and that they should be at the forefront of shootings such as Moderna and BioNTech / Pfizer, the most widely recognized internationally recognized.

But it is a mixed bag. “European countries, with their numbers [vaccine] To provide funding, they need to be more proactive in targeting unscrupulous seafarers, who are actually suppliers of dependable goods, “said Unni.

Sailors are pleased that media coverage such as the Suez Canal closure this year focuses on the impact of the chain rather than on the lives of those who operate more than 80% of the world’s goods. They want to be known in public.

“It simply came to our notice then. Imagine if the maritime industry stopped working, even for just a few hours, the world as we know it will soon be gone, ”said Raymond. “It’s time for people to realize the importance of sailors.”