The Philippines has supplied more labor on the world’s cargo ships. Aurora Almendral writes for an article published in The New York Times, about the life of Jun Russel Reunir as a seafarer.
Here’s an excerpt from that article.
Life as a seafarer
Jun Russel Reunir now 27, was on his first ocean voyage seven years ago and was sent deep into the bowels of a cargo ship. He shoveled iron ore until his muscles ached then continued shoveling for a dozen hours more.
Mr. Reunir said that he used to cry initially in his cabin.
Filipinos like Mr. Reunir, has for decades powered the global shipping industry, helping to move 90 percent of global trade.
Travelling from Japan to the Philippines
A few months ago he and 18 other Filipino men crewed a cement carrier traveling from Japan to the Philippines.
Repetitive drudgery
For a visitor along for the ride, the ocean voyage meant fresh sensations. The sound of the waves drowned out by the roar of the engines. The deck scattered with dead flying fish after a storm. The breeze filled with the smell of cheap bunker fuel.
But for the seamen, perhaps the only thing worse than the repetitive drudgery of their harsh labor was the boredom that came when they were done, any romance with the sea long since faded.
Ship’s cook
Jayson Guanio, 29, the ship’s cook, recalled that once, on a two-month voyage, he ran up to the bridge to peer through binoculars at the flat rise of a distant island, just for the chance to look at something other than the sea.
Engine-room fitter
Still, Arnulfo Abad, 51, the engine-room fitter, who has spent most of the last three decades on cargo ships, said he was grateful for the work. “The sea gave me my life,” he said.
Officer grade needs college degree
The men on the ship are the sons of fishermen, carpenters and rice farmers. To be an officer, it requires a college degree. Some who graduated paid for those degrees on the earnings from backyard piggeries, or made their pocket money selling Popsicles on the street.
Government agencies stepped in to manage
They left behind lives in provincial villages where they could expect to make $100 a month. They earn 10 times that amount, often more, at sea. This improved their status of living.
The country’s dominance of the arduous but well-paid work on cargo ships began in the 1980s, when an organized campaign began to train Filipinos for careers at sea.
Employment agencies marketed Filipino seafarers to international shipping companies. Government agencies stepped in to manage their deployment.
An industry of marine colleges emerged to serve the class of strivers seeking jobs.
Filipino culture dominance
In recent years, ships have been hiring more seamen from Vietnam, Myanmar and China. But about 400,000 of the world’s 1.6 million seafarers are Filipino. In 2018, these workers sent $6 billion back to their country in remittances.
In the Philippines, songs are written about their heroic sacrifices, legendary exploits and Lothario lifestyles. Aboard the UBC Cyprus, Filipino culture dominates, as it does on many ships.
Filipino captain started as an apprentice
Rodrigo Soyoso, the Filipino captain, started as an apprentice on a commercial fishing boat where three dozen men were allowed to bathe once a week, and he slept on deck, tied to a vent by the ankle to keep from sliding into the sea.
He crewed rusting tugboats, a putrid livestock carrier and cruise ships, working his way up to officer rank.
As captain, Mr. Soyoso ensures compliance with international maritime regulations, avoids collisions with other ships, and monitors cold fronts and monsoon winds. He tries to fend off corrupt customs officers, and stocks cartons of cigarettes for the ones he can’t.
What reminds of home?
Food and freetime
Both the ship’s food and free time reminds the sailors of home.
Aboard this ship, the crew was entirely male. About 1 percent of the world’s commercial seafarers are women.
Internet
The internet has made ship life a little less lonely, but the men are given a free allotment of only 50MB to download on the ship. “Open Facebook and it disappears,” Mr. Soyoso said.
Phone booth
Before the internet, when seamen arrived at port, they elbowed each other to get to the phone booth first, trying to find out if a child had been baptized while shipmates banged on the plexiglass.
Dangerous ocean
The ocean is a dangerous place to work. In the last 10 years, 1,036 ships have been lost at sea, including another cement carrier that capsized in bad weather near Scotland with no survivors.
A mooring rope could snap with enough force to rip off a man’s head, or a falling grate could shear off fingers. A large swell breaking over the side could slam a man against pipes or wash him into the sea.
There are electrocutions, burns and appendicitis. The nearest hospital could be hours, or days away, by rescue helicopter.
Mental strain of isolation
The biggest challenge for seafarers, though, is enduring the mental strain of isolation, said Mr. Soyoso, the captain.
On a ship, with time to turn over your problems and no way to do anything about them, it’s easy to become despondent. Mr. Soyoso said he had seen men become too depressed to work, and others die by suicide. The months away from family exact a heavy toll.
Reunir now wishes to go back home
In April, Mr. Reunir was at port when his pregnant wife called. She was in labor. It was a girl.
“On her first birthday, I probably won’t be there either,” he said.
Childhood dream
Mr. Reunir said he had wanted to be a seaman since childhood. Since achieving his dream, he has relished the adventure of sailing pirated waters in the Gulf of Aden, accepted the risks of North Sea storms, and endured 10-month long stretches of separation from everyone he loved.
But since he left for the sea, the Philippine economy has grown, and there are more opportunities on land.
Dream to buy farmland
After seven years onboard cargo ships, he’s now dreaming of buying some farmland and raising goats and pigs in the town where he grew up.
In the meantime, he asks his wife to show his baby daughter photos of him, so she’ll know who he is, when they finally meet.
Did you subscribe to our daily newsletter?
It’s Free! Click here to Subscribe!
Source: The New York Times
