Governments will not take action to help crews during the pandemic until cargoes run short, a TradeWinds ship management webinar was told.
Panellists from the ship management, trades union and technology sectors agreed they would like to see a "no shipping, no shopping" hashtag trending on social media.
Anglo Eastern chief executive Bjorn Hojgaard said: "The success of shipping is setting us up for failure. This success allows governments to choose the cop-out option."
He explained there is a feeling in some countries of "not on our shores".
"They say, 'we're not going to be part of the solution, someone else can handle that. I'll just take the cargoes'."
Hojgaard added: "Until we get to the place where there is no shipping, governments will not act."
He said seafarers are basically treated like pariahs.
'Damn good at reacting'
Rene Kofod-Olsen, chief executive of V.Group, added: "Shipping is damn good at reacting. It's easy for governments to say seafarers will be fine.
"We are seeing a generation changing in terms of their willingness to go to sea."
Kofod-Olsen believes younger mariners want to have a normal life when on vessels, and this includes a digital connection to the outside world.
He wants to see pressure placed on governments to tackle the issue of vaccinations.
The necessity for two jabs has to be built into crew changes, he argued.
"The global community does not understand it takes a ship to get our sneakers from Amazon, a ship to turn on the lights," he said.
Better branding needed
"We need to be fundamentally better at branding shipping."
Hojgaard said the best thing that could be done is for vessel operators to get together and say they will not call in those countries that are "not playing ball".
But he called this scenario a "utopia".
"I still think seafaring is a fantastic career," Hojgaard added.
But he said that when you make people feel like victims you take away their control.
"We try to be a leader in making crew changes happen. The more you put into that emotional bank account of trust, the more you can pull on in difficult times," Hojgaard added.
