Four United Nations (UN) organisations, including the International Labour Organization (ILO), the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the World Health Organization (WHO), have called for continued global collaboration in order to end the seafarer crisis that at times during the Covid-19 pandemic has left more than 400,000 of them stranded at sea.
In a joint statement issued on 28 February, the four UN bodies stated that new challenges and concerns like the Omicron variant threaten to worsen the plight of the world’s seafarers, “who play a vital role in global trade,” as they keep ships moving and ensure critical goods are being delivered across the world.
The four parties noted that as Covid-19 travel restrictions eased and vaccination rates increased among maritime personnel, the humanitarian crisis at sea showed signs of improvement before the Omicron variant appeared.
Particularly, according to the Neptune Declaration Crew Change Indicator, which is based on data from 10 major ship managers employing some 90,000 seafarers, the percentage of seafarers onboard vessels beyond their contracts decreased from 9% in July 2021 to 3.7% in December 2021, but the share bounced back up to 4.2% by the middle of January 2022.
Hence, following Omicron’s designation as a “variant of concern” (VOC), many countries quickly reimposed measures such as travel bans that have affected the world’s seafarers, most of whom are from developing countries.
Restrictions to fight the spread of the pandemic have meant many seafarers couldn’t leave ships. They have remained stranded at sea far beyond the expiration of their work contracts and often beyond the default 11-month maximum period of continuous service on board, as required by the Maritime Labour Convention of 2006.
