Translation result.
[Choi Bosik’s Press = Intern Reporter Young-eun Choi]
“This crisis lays bare the precarious reality faced by the unnamed seafarers who keep global trade moving.”
On May 5, British weekly The Economist published a piece titled “Asia’s stranded seafarers suffer as the Iran war drags on,” highlighting the dire conditions confronting Asian merchant seafarers.
The Economist reported that “as the Iran war drags on, about 20,000 seafarers are stranded and isolated in danger around the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf,” adding that most are merchant sailors from Asian countries such as the Philippines, India and Indonesia, who sustain global logistics.
It noted that missile strikes, ship explosions and seizures have led to actual fatalities, and that while the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) has secured members the right to refuse sailings into dangerous zones and to be repatriated, crew changes remain difficult because of shortages of replacement crews and problems obtaining visas and flights.
The article said seafarers have endured cumulative hardships — prolonged pandemic deployments, the ongoing threat of piracy, and unpaid wages — and that although governments are attempting to repatriate crews, the global shipping industry was already facing a shortage of skilled seafarers.
The Economist also reported that “some seafarers receive wartime pay, but many lack even the protection of collective agreements,” adding that shortages of drinking water and food are severe and that the contract-based labor system can make leaving a ship itself a threat to livelihoods.
Below is the full Economist piece.
In a more dangerous world, unsung mariners are under increasing threat
“We are like prisoners of war.”
Captain Khan, waiting in the Persian Gulf as missiles “go all around” him, says as much. Once a nearby fuel tanker was hit, caught fire and exploded. On another occasion, debris sank a vessel just a few meters in front of him. Mr. Khan’s crew tried to transit the Strait of Hormuz three times; Iranian forces turned them back each time. He refuses to give his full name or identify his vessel, saying, “We are afraid. We want to go home.”
Very few have made it home. On Sunday, Donald Trump announced a plan to “guide” stranded vessels out of Hormuz, but it will likely have limited effect on shipping because the U.S. does not plan to provide naval escorts. Around 20,000 seafarers remain stuck in the Gulf. Most come from relatively poor Asian countries such as the Philippines, Indonesia and India. These countries supply a large share of the crew for the merchant fleet that carries 85% of the world’s traded goods by volume — from oil to smartphones, fertilizer and food. Yet these sailors are increasingly caught up in conflicts in which they play no part and for which they are unprepared.
The closure of Hormuz is only one reason why so many seafarers are stuck in the Gulf. The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) has secured for its members the right to refuse voyages into the region and to demand repatriation. But seamen cannot legally abandon their ships until companies find replacements. Few volunteers are stepping forward to relieve them. Flights out of the Middle East are expensive and scarce, and visas to enter Gulf countries are hard to obtain. That means even if the strait reopens, “it will take at least six months before things return to some sort of normality” for seafarers in the region, says Francesco Gargiulo of IMEC, which represents shipping firms.
Some crews remain directly in the firing line. Fifteen Filipinos were aboard two ships Iran seized in late April; they were unharmed, but at least ten other seafarers — including Indians and Thais — have been killed during the war. Arjun (a pseudonym) and his crew were preparing lunch when a projectile struck, killing one crew member. He recalled, “Usually the ship is alive, but after the explosion there was no sound, no rhythm. It felt like a ghost ship.” Arjun and his crew scooped seawater with buckets and threw it onto a massive fireball until rescuers arrived.
Conditions for seafarers still in the Gulf vary. Some shipowners have signed collective-bargaining agreements that guarantee double pay in war zones and the right to repatriation. Some mariners accept higher hazard pay while doing less work. But the ITF reports that less than half of commercial ships are covered by such agreements.
Even on vessels covered by such deals, life is getting harder. Captain Khan says he faces a fresh-water crisis: one tonne of water now costs about $50, up from roughly $2 before the war. His crew are rationing water. As Mr. Trump has noted, other seafarers are running low on food. Yet choosing to leave the Gulf carries its own risks, because most seafarers work contract to contract.
Seafarers view this war as only the latest in a string of hardships. The job has always been arduous and dangerous; attacks by pirates near the Horn of Africa and in the Gulf of Guinea remain a threat. The pandemic made conditions particularly harsh when governments barred crews from going ashore and blocked crew changes. Arjun went 20 months without seeing his wife. Many sailors are angry that an increasing number of employers abandon crews on ships without paying wages.
Some hope this crisis will spur change. Anam Chaudury, a union leader in Bangladesh, has a simple plea for leaders planning future wars: “Please give seafarers time to get the hell out. Don’t let them be victimized by your reckless actions.”
The Gulf is not the only danger zone. In recent years, Houthi missiles and drones have killed sailors in the Red Sea, and Russian strikes have killed mariners in the Black Sea.
Governments across Asia are sympathetic to seafarers because they wield considerable political and economic influence. The Philippines supplies the largest contingent — 590,000 seafarers — who remit more than $7 billion a year, about one-fifth of the country’s total remittances. The Philippines has even had a seafarers’ political party called Angkla (“anchor”). It is therefore unsurprising that the Philippine government stresses that its seafarers can refuse deployments to the Gulf — though that stance may in turn make it harder to relieve those still stranded there. India’s leaders are working to repatriate seafarers from the region and are publicizing their efforts.
All countries have a stake in improving seafarers’ lives. Even before the war, qualified seafarers were in short supply. The job has long offered men like Arjun a route out of poverty, providing far higher pay than they could earn on land and a chance to travel the world. Yet it also means long stretches spent “on a very lonely sea, in a small ship in a vast ocean” that is increasingly dangerous.
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