- Title: "Like a jail": stranded sailors struggle with COVID isolation
- Date: 29th March 2021
- Summary: AT SEA (RECENT - MARCH 16, 2021) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) CAPTAIN OF BULK CARRIER, STUCK AT SEA FOR THREE MONTHS PAST CONTRACT, BHUPINDER SINGH, SAYING: "Previously, whenever we go in port we would have, you know, the agent goes on board, he gets, comes and sees the captain, signs papers and all that. Sometimes the seafarers' centre, they come on board. Like that, you know. Now, because of this COVID, hardly anybody comes on board." COAST OFF HONG KONG, CHINA (RECENT - MARCH 22, 2021) (REUTERS) SENIOR CHAPLAIN, THE MISSION TO SEAFARERS HONG KONG, STEPHEN MILLER, (WEARING BLACK) AND COLLEAGUE COXSWAIN APPROACHING CONTAINER SHIP ON BOAT MILLER SHOUTING (English): "A LINE" TO SAILORS ON BOARD CONTAINER SHIP SAILOR THROWING DOWN ROPE TO RECEIVE SUPPLIES FROM MILLER SAILOR RECEIVING SUPPLIES AS MILLER SPEAKS CEMENT CARRIER IN WATER SAILORS ON BOARD CEMENT CARRIER WRITING DOWN REQUESTS FOR SUPPLIES MILLER LOOKING OUT, WALKING ONTO DECK OF HIS BOAT AND SAYING (English): "SOMETIMES THEY'RE VERY HAPPY TO SEE YOU." (SOUNDBITE) (English) SENIOR CHAPLAIN, THE MISSION TO SEAFARERS HONG KONG, STEPHEN MILLER, SAYING: "Well, generally going on board was stopped the last February. It was quite an interesting thing in that last February, when Hong Kong and China had a lot of COVID, the seafarers were frightened to come ashore because of the threat of COVID from here. Now, it's the other way around. Now they're not allowed to come ashore because of the fear that they've got COVID. It's a crazy, upside down world." HONG KONG'S VICTORIA HARBOUR SEEN FROM MILLER'S BOAT MOTOR BOAT APPROACHING CONTAINER SHIP MILLER PREPARING SUPPLIES TOGETHER WITH COLLEAGUE COXSWAIN COXWAIN'S HANDS PACKING SUPPLIES IN PLASTIC BAG MILLER'S HAND HOLDING LIST PROVIDED BY SAILORS MILLER READING LIST PROVIDED BY SAILORS, SAYING (English): "TOOTHBRUSHES, SHAMPOO, WAFER CHOCOLATES." COXWAIN TYING BAG OF SUPPLIES ONTO ROPE FOR SAILORS VARIOUS OF SAILORS PULLING UP BAGS OF SUPPLIES ONTO CEMENT CARRIER (SOUNDBITE) (English) SENIOR CHAPLAIN, THE MISSION TO SEAFARERS HONG KONG, STEPHEN MILLER, SAYING: "I mean, the most popular item on board a ship is a calendar. And when seafarers join, they the know they are working for nine months, they will tick off, put a big square around the day that they are expecting to go home, and then they will be planning from then on what they are going to do when they go home. But of course with the uncertainty of repatriation of returning to home, that leads to all sorts of other issues. I mean, you can just imagine it for yourself, you've been planning to go home, you've been planning do things with your family, or maybe see a young child for the first time in many, many months, and then it's taken away from you. So that obviously leads to sadness, which can lead to depression, and if it's not talked about, it may lead to, sadly, people thinking about life's not worth living." COAST OFF HONG KONG, CHINA (RECENT - MARCH 20, 2021) (REUTERS) (MUTE) (MUTE) VARIOUS OF DRONE SHOTS OF CARRIER SHIPS IN HONG KONG WATERS AT SEA (RECENT - MARCH 12, 2021) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) CAPTAIN OF LPG CARRIER, STUCK AT SEA FOR FOUR MONTHS PAST CONTRACT, RITESH MEHRA, SAYING: "There was a time I used to think that, okay, when I am sailing as a Master, my son should also join at sea, and maybe one day we'd all be officers on the same ship. I don't want them to come here anymore. I really don't want them to come to sea anymore."
- Embargoed: 12th April 2021 02:36
- Keywords: COVID-19 Container traffic Coronavirus Maritime industry Mental health Shipping Travel restrictions
- Location: AT SEA/ COAST OFF HONG KONG, CHINA/PANAMA CANAL, PANAMA
- City: AT SEA/ COAST OFF HONG KONG, CHINA/PANAMA CANAL, PANAMA
- Country: Hong Kong
- Topics: Asia / Pacific,Health/Medicine
- Reuters ID: LVA006E64ZXHJ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: When Ritesh Mehra enlisted for a four-month stint as captain on a liquid gas tanker last July he never expected to be stuck on board until spring.
After being stuck at sea for eight months, he and his crew began to refer to their temporary home as a "jail".
"So the part of not being able to go back home in time, and the thought of being chained to this particular place, and in a way you can also say (it is like a) jail, it is bearing on the crew now. They are thinking more about it than the actual job at hand," Mehra said from the bridge of the 80,000 tonne ship.
Mehra, a veteran with twenty years of experience at sea, also faced the challenge of managing a nervous crew, with many of them struggling with fatigue and social isolation.
The coronavirus pandemic has left a massive impact on the world's merchant navy. According to figures from the International Chamber of Shipping, an estimated one hundred thousand seafarers are currently overdue and effectively stranded at sea.
Crew rotations depend on complex logistics including securing transit visas and arranging chartered flights to repatriate sailors back to their country of origin after getting off at an international port.
In order to maintain effective operations and safety, sailors are only allowed off the ship when a replacement can be brought on board. The plans to arrange for the right entry permits, quarantine and testing to take place during the brief window of opportunity when a ship is in a port can be daunting because of coronavirus restrictions. As a result, crew rotations during the pandemic are often cancelled on short notice, and being highly overdue has become commonplace.
Regular shore leave, once a mainstay of life at sea, has also come to a halt.
Near Hong Kong's busy waterways, visiting ships are often anchored for days as they unload goods to smaller vessels or barges.
Hong Kong-based Reverend Stephen Miller runs a supply launch that approaches visiting ships in the anchorage. With seafarers unable to get off, he now delivers goods such as SIM cards and snacks by way of ropes that the sailors throw down from the deck.
Miller says he fears for the mental health of sailors due to the delays.
"You can just imagine it for yourself, you've been planning to go home, you've been planning do things with your family, or maybe see a young child for the first time in many, many months, and then it's taken away from you. So that obviously leads to sadness, which can lead to depression, and if it's not talked about, it may lead to, sadly, people thinking about life's not worth living," said Miller, during a recent supply run.
At the end of March, Mehra finally disembarked and prepared for quarantine before he could reunite with his family in New Delhi. By then he had missed the funeral of a close relative and said his family felt let down by his long stay on board.
"There was a time I used to think that, okay, when I am sailing as a Master, my son should also join at sea, and maybe one day we'd all be officers on the same ship. I don't want them to come here anymore. I really don't want them to come to sea anymore," he said.
(Production: Aleksander Solum) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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