Seafarers across the globe are facing a doubled-edged sword – job losses as hundreds of ship sailings are cancelled and ports all over the world close or drastically cut their operations, as well as restrictions on travel that have left them stranded. Some on board ships, unable to disembark or be replaced by relief crews, and others stuck in hotels without pay and unable to get flights home.
Estimates suggest that every month 100 000 seafarers finish their contracts and would normally be flown home - but the coronavirus has had a huge negative impact on this repatriation process.
Since the start of the global lockdown, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has been in urgent contact with trade unions, seafarer welfare organisations, shipowners, governments and fellow United Nations agencies, especially the International Labour Organization, to try to find solutions.
IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim has once again urged all IMO member states to recognise all seafarers as “key workers”, remove any barriers to their documentation, and lift national travel restrictions so that they can get home on conclusion of their contracts and rejoin their families. Wherever possible, IMO staff have been working round the clock to help bring individual cases to a speedy resolution.
