Twenty months into the pandemic, the plight of seafarers
continues to show slow signs of improvement, especially with increasing rates
of vaccinations. However, new travel restrictions in Asia and especially China,
and a lack of recognition for vaccinations continue to challenge the welfare of
seafarers according to the latest information from ship managers in the Neptune
Declaration Crew Change Indicator.
Aggregating data from 10 leading ship managers, that
collectively employ about 90,000 seafarers, the survey shows continued
improvement in the crew change situation. The number of seafarers on board
vessels beyond the expiration of their contract declined nearly one percentage
point last month. The data shows that just over seven percent of seafarers are
stuck at sea after their contracts ended.
The number of seafarers on board their ship for 11 months remained
stable at just one percent.
The most positive trend reported by the November Indicator
is a 10 percent increase in the vaccination rate for seafarers. Despite limited
access to vaccines in large seafaring nations such as the Philippines, the
number of ports that now provide vaccines to international seafarers has helped
them gain access to vaccines outside their home countries, the report says.
Seafarer vaccinations rates reached 41 percent as of the end of October up from
31 percent at the end of the prior month.
“It is positive to see the numbers are slowly improving and
there has been good progress with seafarer vaccinations. Nevertheless, the
numbers hide the persistent difficulties of global crew changes in repatriating
crew and onboarding seafarers, which is likely to continue,” says Kasper
Søgaard, Managing Director, Head of Institutional Strategy and Development,
Global Maritime Forum. “We must keep on working together to ensure the
wellbeing of seafarers, the implementation of global vaccine standards, and the
integrity of supply chains.”
Ship managers, however, also report that new national
lockdowns, an increase in flight cancellations, travel restrictions, and
increasingly strict crew change requirements, especially in Asia, are creating
new problems in maintaining crew welfare.
Some countries are placing still stricter crew change
requirements, which has resulted in cancellations or delays in repatriating or
onboarding seafarers. Some ship managers also report how the onboarding and
repatriation of Chinese seafarers is becoming increasingly difficult, due to
stricter Chinese Government isolation requirements on seafarers post sign-off
and before repatriation.
Also, despite the progress in getting seafarers vaccinated,
the Neptune report cites challenges with governments demanding seafarers be
vaccinated with particular vaccines to ensure crew changes. The managers report
that this has resulted in seafarers being over-vaccinated with different
vaccines.