- You wouldn’t wish such a situation on your worst enemy, yes trapped aboard massive ships under the control of foreign ports.
- Some of the vessels could be sold for several million dollars, but the longer they sit, the further they fall into disrepair.
- There are vulnerable laborers stuck on these ships, and there’s also a huge environmental risk.
- With no one to take financial responsibility for maintenance or, eventually, safely dismantling a ship, some sit idle for years, clogging ports and threatening to leak fuel.
- Some sink where they’re anchored.
A recent news article published in Bloomberg reveals how seafarers face hardships while getting trapped in abandoned ships.
Rules for shipping companies
In most big, developed economies, when a business goes under, there are protections for workers, plus processes for dealing with stranded assets and jilted creditors. If necessary, authorities can step in.
Those rules should apply to shipping companies, but the fragmented, global nature of the industry makes them nearly impossible to enforce.
A subtle example
For example, a ship owner might live in one country, incorporate his company in another, and register his ship under the flag of a third.
If he abandons it in a port that isn’t subject to global labor protections for seafarers, he’ll have the advantage of less oversight and, possibly, favorable legal outcomes.
Pandemic contributes to worst
The pandemic has, of course, made these problems worse.
In addition to the seafarers working long past contract, caught between port restrictions and corporate cost management, the United Nations’ International Labour Organization counts more than 1,000 mariners who have been straight-up abandoned so far in 2020.
Their ranks have more than doubled since last year.
Cases, a proxy for ships affected, are up to 76 this year from 40, and the International Transport Workers’ Federation, the union that represents mariners, said there are more to come.
Real-time difficulties faced by seafarers
- Crew runs out of food and fresh drinking water.
- Fuel runs out and so is the power and electricity.
- Cooking on a makeshift stove on the ship’s deck.
- Using water from the ship’s tank to shower, wash clothes and flush toilets.
- Crew sleeping on the deck on cardboard and blankets during hot times.
Altogether, the seafarers get into depression. They get stress and have health problems. Some talk about killing themselves if we are stuck here longer.
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Source: Bloomberg
