Wallem Group chief executive Frank Coles warns that shipping’s crew change crisis is putting some seafarers under so much stress that they are close to breaking point.
The Hong Kong shipmanager has already seen danger signs as stress and anger mount among crew who cannot get home because of international travel restrictions to stop the spread of coronavirus.
A breaking point is looming, Coles suggested, as more crew contracts come up for renewal. He estimated that 40% of Wallem’s crew will be out of contract by the end of May, and he said it will be a similar situation across the industry, at a time when the lockdown in India is preventing a large percentage of shipping’s workforce from returning home.
“We’ve had one master refuse to sail and another refuse to allow stevedores to come on board. I don’t want to tempt fate, but I think things could crack maybe within a month. It is really about the mental health of the crew,” Coles said.
“My major concern is safety. Around 20% of seafarers are reported to have said they have considered self-harm. Now, with this going on, it has made the job even more stressful and difficult.”
He said Wallem’s strategy has been to do everything possible to conduct crew change rather than simply extend contracts. That involves going to lengths to satisfy the authorities and seafarers that crew can be replaced safely.
Wallem puts its crew into early isolation and conducts the polymerise chain reaction test for Covid-19 to try to make sure crew can be replaced.
Indian crew 'abandoned by their government'
While the company has been able to find some solutions to relieve Chinese, Philippines and Eastern European crew, lockdown in India is making it impossible for many mariners to get home. Wallem already has a number of Indian crew staying in a hotel in Tokyo — as India announced an extension to its lockdown over the weekend.
“Indian crew have been abandoned by their government,” Coles said.
He criticised countries for treating seafarers like “dirt on their shoe”.
According to sources in China, difficulties in changing crew there could have been made worse by a new regulation preventing any crew member coming ashore who has a temperature higher than 37.3C. Normal body temperature can be as high as 37.5C.
Warning over mounting stress also comes from Dehui Gao, general manager at Singapore bulker owner and operator SDTR Marine.
“By working over an extended period of time on board a vessel, it is putting a lot of undue fatigue and stress, which is very detrimental to the well-being, both physically and mentally, to a seafarer," he said.
Gao is also concerned that things are heading quickly towards breaking point. "Consequently, this will compromise the safety of the crew and the vessel. The seafarers will feel that they are being treated like slaves on a trading ship of the past era. It will be like a time bomb waiting to explode,” he added.
“We hope all governments would consider seafarers as essential or critical front-line workers, like the doctors and nurses fighting against Covid-19. They are providing essential and critical logistical support to everyone in this fight, when Covid-19 is spreading across the globe."
