“The Indian government termed seafarers as key workers last year, but why were we not a priority for vaccination?” he said. “Now I may end up losing this job.”

India is the world’s fifth-largest supplier of sailors after China, the Philippines, Russia and Ukraine, with Indians making up 240,000 of the 1.7 million people crewing some 50,000 cargo vessels. About 14 per cent of Indian seafarers have been vaccinated with at least a first dose. About 1 per cent have been fully vaccinated, media reports said.

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Chirag Bahri, a senior official with the International Seafarers’ Welfare and Assistance Network, said more than 60 Indian seafarers had in the past six months called its helpline for financial assistance, while 150 more had inquired about employment opportunities.

“Many who came back home on leave several months ago could not go back to the ship because of the second wave of the pandemic and the delayed vaccination,” Bahri said. “Some of them working in the cruise industry have been out of work because the cruise liners are not operational now.”

Frank Viegas, president of Goan Seamen Association of India, said only 500 of 25,000 seafarers in Goa had been vaccinated.

“Most companies have asked seafarers to update them about the dates of both doses of vaccine so that they can be called back on the ship but most of them are waiting for their turn,” he said. “As the Indian government is not taking vaccination of seafarers seriously, this will lead to huge job losses.”

Chaos for crew and companies

For seafarers and shipping companies, India’s Covid-19 troubles have added to the chaos of the past year.

A surge in consumer demand since late 2020 propelled increased volume from China to the US, leading to record freight rates.

But coronavirus restrictions meant many crew members were unable to disembark at ports of call or even leave their posts for a crew change. Some ended up extending their contracts, which are set at a maximum of 11 months, according to the ­Maritime Labour Convention, beyond their original tours of duty.

Last year, 400,000 seafarers required repatriation after finishing their contracts. In March alone, there were 200,000.

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Karan Kochhar is head of Marine HR, Asia at A.P. Moller – Maersk, an integrated container logistics company which employs more than 4,000 Indian seafarers. He said overworked crew members, “who couldn’t disembark” on time due to a lack of crew change options, were suffering from fatigue and mental stress.

Stuart Neil, communications director of the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), the trade association for shipowners and operators, said travel restrictions could lead to a return to the peak crew change crisis of last year or worse.

“The reintroduction of travel bans will see a return to the peak crew change crisis of last year, or even higher,” he said.

To replace crews on time, about 150,000 sailors need to travel by air every month to connect with ships in ports around the world. If shipping companies leave Indian crew members out of this process, it is not necessarily easy to find replacements elsewhere.

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A spokesperson for the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the UN agency for safety of international shipping, said ships usually required seafarers of specific ranks and availability could not be guaranteed.

“It will also depend on getting current crews, who are due to end their contract, off the ships and repatriated, which is complex,” the spokesperson said. “Many seafarers have faced – and are facing – convoluted journeys across many borders to be repatriated.”

Kochhar of A.P. Moller – Maersk said the firm had not changed its recruitment strategy, but travel restrictions meant that even if Indian seafarers could be deployed to overseas ports for crew changes, it would be a challenge securing visas needed to fly, as most consulates in India have been closed.

“Sometimes, the seafarers also need to be routed over a series of connecting flights travelling halfway across the world to reach somewhere close by to their joining port,” Kochhar said. “Even after reaching the port, the crew member has to follow varied Covid-19 protocols prior to entry to some countries.”

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A.P. Moller – Maersk’s own protocol includes isolating crew members for 10 days, and administering two Covid-19 tests before they can join the vessel.

Darryl Jude D. Souza, chief engineer at A.P. Moller – Maersk, had his first vaccination shot in April and might have to prolong his leave in Mumbai until July to receive his second.

He said shipping companies had become stricter with Covid-19 rules as some seafarers had tested negative before embarking on their journey to reach their ships in various ports, but tested positive on arrival.

These additional steps taken by shipping companies have added to costs. One Indian chief engineer currently sailing a vessel belonging to a Hong Kong-based shipping firm said crew change costs were currently about three times more than normal.

According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), during the pandemic, many seafarers sailed without “access to shore-based leave”, the leave that sailors take from the ship while the vessel is docked in port, and “medical treatment”.

The engineer, who did not want to be named, said besides not allowing crew onshore, ports of call would not even allow doctors on board to treat ill sailors.

What happens next?

The IMO has urged governments to prioritise vaccinating sailors, and designate them as essential workers exempt from travel restrictions.

Kochhar agreed, saying it would also help if countries worldwide agreed on a uniform Covid-19 testing protocol and were willing to vaccinate seafarers who came to their ports of call, regardless of where they came from.

“Vaccinations seem to be the most crucial step for seafarers,” he said. “Acknowledging their role as ‘essential workers’ who need to travel around the world and cross international borders several times, potentially exposing themselves to the virus, it is imperative the seafarers are prioritised to receive Covid-19 vaccinations regardless of the geography they are in.”

The US and the Netherlands have begun immunising all seafarers regardless of their nationalities.

The Seafarer International Relief Fund, set up by ICS and other industry bodies, has so far raised US$300,000 of its US$1 million target to help seafarers and their families around the world.

Neil Godfrey, group commercial director of shipping at GAC Group, a UAE-based shipping and logistics company, warned that if a cargo carrier’s seafarers did have the virus, it would be stopped from calling at many ports and this would have a “knock-on effect” on cargo owners and receivers, causing disruption to supply chains.

If the number of India’s cases continues to rise, it could also force more countries to quarantine vessels arriving from Indian ports for 14 to 21 days.

“Global shipping serves India’s needs to transport significant volumes of bulk and containerised trade to and from the country,” Godfrey said. “As the current surge in Covid-19 across India has a significant impact on the country’s production or consumption, this will affect various members of the global shipping community.”

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H.M., an Indian national who is chief engineer with a German ship management company, last week travelled for 48 hours from Goa – twice as long as it would have taken before the pandemic – to reach his ship in Sweden.

Noting the second wave of the pandemic will not impact global shipping as much as it will affect the Indian seafarers, H.M. said: “The seafarers have to be mentally tough and focus only on their work. If they get off, they don’t know when they will get the next opportunity to join a vessel. The ship never waits for anyone, they have to wait for the ship.”