On Demand Webinar – Seafarers’ Welfare in Covid-19 Crisis

Over 90% of the global trade is carried out by sea, and seafarers are the lifeblood of the global economy. Which is the reason why maritime has been constituted as essential services during the global COVID-19 crisis.

While they continue to run the show for all of us, seafarers’ face grave problems on the ground, which we mortals sitting in the comforts of our homes, can hardly fathom. An article by The New York Times first published the grievances of seafarers’ who are stranded on board, due to global lockdown at ports. The article highlighted key problems like repatriation issues, lack of essentials on board, lack of facilities on ports and many more.

This was followed by yet another article by David Hammond, of Human Rights at Sea, that delved into the issue, even deeper pointing out the lack of effective reporting of the issues being faced by seafarers at sea during the lockdown period.

On the other hand, we were receiving personal messages from seafarers from our friends and family who were expressing their discontent on similar lines. The anxiety levels were high, seafarers and their families are waiting for answers and there was a visible lack of a platform where seafarers and their families could come and seek clarity regarding the next steps on the seafarers’ statuses.

Being a member of the shipping and maritime fraternity, SHM Shipcare is sensitive to the issues faced by seafarers in various situations.

With the questions being so sensitive, we put together a webinar – ‘Seafarers’ Welfare in COVID-19 crisis’, wherein we invited four our panellists from different streams of the fraternity to join us-

Abdulghani Serang, General Secretary, National Union of Seafarers of India, Sanjam Gupta, Founder, Maritime SheEO Director at Sitara Shipping Ltd and Astral Freight Forwarders [P] Ltd, Chirag Bahri Director International Seafarers’ Welfare & Assistance Network (ISWAN) and Anish Wankhede, COO and Technical Editor at Marine Insight.

In a discussion that lasted for over one hour, the panellists answered questions from the host as well the audience on key issues like:

• The status on repatriation of seafarers who were due to come back home
• Steps being taken by the government to ease the seafarers’ problems on board at sea
• Safety procedures being followed on board
• Jobs for seafarers who were scheduled to join
• Arrangements of their lodging boarding at the ports where they were docked without any further information
• Frequency of communications with the seafarers on board
• Initiatives to address their mental welfare
• Issues pertaining to compensation of the seafarers, whose families depended entirely on the seafarers’ earnings in these crucial times

To understand and hear what the panellists had to say, watch the webinar on-demand. Please leave your questions and comments in the comment box below.

Source: Maritime Shipping News