20/01/2022
WHAT SHOULD THIS BE CALLED??????
AN ARTICLE AS RCVD BELOW TELLS THE PLIGHT OF SEAFARER........đđ©
On 27th March 2021, Captain Dan Sandu, a Romanian national arrived India to board a cargo ship MV Vantage Wave. After 40 years at sea, on his last voyage before retirement, Captain Sandu slipped into his cabin on MV Vantage Wave, two days after the vessel sailed out from India, feeling unwell. On the next day he was dead and his crewmates had no other way but to stuff his body into the shipâs walk-in freezer, but what they never expected was that Sanduâs body would remain in there for the next six months â with an astonishing 13 countries refusing to take care of the body. For six months, it had travelled thousands of miles lying near the crewâs meat and vegetables before finally making it to its final resting place in a small Romanian village â half a year after his death.
The emotional words of Captain Sanduâs son who drove 700kms to receive his fatherâs body should echo in the ears of the world humanity for long -
âMy father was a seafarer for 40yrs who carried the world trade even in this pandemic. But he was not even allowed to get sick! He had to die at sea and remain along with frozen meat for months. Port after port closed doors to him. All wanted the cargo not the humans onboard - dead or alive!!. The frustrating thing is that even the dead have no rights, if he is a seafarerââŠâŠ.
Ironically this happened in a year that saw the shipping companies across the globe being declared as the biggest gainers of the Covid pandemic, even surpassing the big Pharma companies. The global shipping industry has seen a jackpot year in 2021, as the combination of booming demand for goods and a collapsed global supply chain under the of Covid-19 drove the freight prices to historic levels. Whether the giant container ships stacked high with of 40-foot steel boxes, bulk carriers whose cavernous holds house thousands of tons of coal, or specialized vessels designed to pack in cars and trucks, earnings soared for ships of almost every type.
So who are the real beneficiaries of this bonanza? Container shipping remains the star. It now costs $14,287 to haul a 40-foot steel box from China to Europe, thatâs up more than 500% a year earlier. The Taiwanese shipping giant Evergreen reported a 1300% year-over-year jump in net profits in the first three quarters of 2021, and has reportedly dished out year-end bonuses totaling some 40 months of salary to its employees. On the other hand, A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S is now heading for a full-year profit that will be a record in Danish corporate history and about three times higher than Maerskâs previous record in 2014 and more than double the 2020 result of Novo Nordisk A/S, Denmarkâs most valuable company.
These container giantsâ extraordinary financial results are being repeated across the industry and the container lines alone could collectively make $100 billion in operating income in 2021, thatâs more than 15 times the profits they generated in 2019. To put it simple, these companies are making enough money in one year to cover whatever investments theyâve made in the last 10 years and one entire voyage is often enough to earn back the cost of an entire ship. Thatâs like taking one trip as an Uber driver and being paid the value of the car.
But is it an occasion for the shipping industry to celebrate? I sincerely doubt.
Firstly, this is not an industry wide phenomenon but a sector-wise trend, largely in the container shipping, spillover of which could have benefitted the other sectors also marginally. Secondly, this does not give any positive indication on the much required operational efficiency of the industry or its tarnished environmental credentials, but rather, lack of it- disruptions in global supply chains, choking of ports, delayed vessels, shortage of containers etc., - the real reasons for this surprise gift, thanks to the pandemic.
More importantly, I am alarmed by the monopolistic nature of the world container liner sector and its overall impact on the society at large and the world economy in particular. The top ten container lines that control more than 80% of global capacity and the three powerful alliances they have created have together created a powerful monopolistic environment in the world transport sector (Container shipping today accounts for 60% of international shipping) which the Competition and Markets Authorities of even powerful economies like US and UK fail to challenge, leave alone the comparatively smaller economies. The surging freight charges could see import prices increase by 24% and consumer prices by 7.5% in developing economies where consumption and production are highly dependent on international trade.
However, the most worrisome charge against these industrial giants from developed world, which stood truly exposed during these pandemic days, is regarding their treatment of workers (read seafarers) on their ships most of whom come from under developed countries. No one who knows shipping can just wish away the allegation from some of the seafarer welfare groups that the huge profits heaped by these companies during this pandemic was nothing but âblood moneyâ earned by sacrificing the human rights of 1.5 million seafarers who were stuck at sea throughout the pandemic.
As an addendum to Captain Sanduâs fate - Captain Angelo Capurro of MV Ital Libera also started showing symptoms of Covid-19 on his second day at sea and six days later he was dead. For six weeks, the Italian-flagged ship was stranded off the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, unable to find a port that would take a co**se during the pandemic despite repeated pleas for assistance. Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, South Korea, the Philippines and South Africa - all refused the disembarkation and repatriation of his remains. Ital Libera was finally diverted to the southern port of Taranto, Italy, on âforce majeureâ almost two months later to disembark the body.
The body backlog is part of a wider problem of seafarer abandonment in the COVID-19 era. If I quote the International Transport Workersâ Federation (ITF), at least two dozen seafarers who died at sea were held up on ships for months, having denied disembarkation to repatriate the remains, and none of them died from Covid-19. Weeks and months of isolated life from dear and near ones, long and stressful working hours, limited social time - life of a seafarer has always been taxing. However, extended contracts, border closures, travel restrictions, quarantine requirements, denial of shore leave â above all, the fear of getting infected without any support system like ashore, the trauma and sufferings of seafarers during the pandemic had no parallels and all to keep the essentials for the world moving and for these shipping giants to heap profits.
When these Shipping giants celebrate on the heaps of profit, letâs join Pope Francis to extend solidarity to our seafarers - âLetâs pray for the seafarers who continue to sacrifice for all of us- spending long periods aboard ships without being able to disembark, separated from families, friends and native countries, fear of infection â all these things are a heavy burden to bear, now more than ever.â
Seafarers are the real âkeysâ to the world trade and its prosperity and sustainabilityâŠSalutes to them.
(Ajithkumar Sukumaran).
Note: Expressed above are the personal views of the author on few current social issues and in no way reflect the views and positions of the Organization to which he belongs to. For statistics, quotes and figures, courtesy few articles on the internet.
https://wordpress.futurism.com/cargo-ship-captains-co**se-freezer
