Despite the pandemic caused by the coronavirus, known as Covid-19, ships keep moving across the oceans.  Oil tankers, bulk carriers, and container ships carry critical resources and manufactured goods to industry and consumers across the globe. Now, however, dozens of nations, including the 27 nations of the European Union, have temporarily closed their external borders to most foreign nationals.

The problem is that ships’ crew, whose contracts of employment are up, can be effectively trapped. They are often prevented from disembarking and, even in the increasingly race cases where they can go ashore, in many countries, international air travel is just not available.

The New York Times reports an estimated 150,000 crew members with expired work contracts have been forced into continued labor aboard commercial ships worldwide to meet the demands of governments that have closed their borders.  The governments want the fuel, food, and supplies provided by the ships but want nothing to do with allowing the crews to return home, or to allow new crews to replace them.  

“These are guys being made to do a prison term even though they haven’t been convicted,” said Frank Coles, chief executive officer of the Wallem Group, which provides crews for ships. “I know that sounds dramatic, but that’s essentially what’s going on.”

Last week, Maersk, the world’s largest shipping company, announced that it had suspended all crew changes aboard its container ships through April 14.  The statement reads:

With the continued spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and the extraordinarily fast-paced closing of borders and cancellations of airline services, today (17 March 2020) we have decided to suspend all crew changes for Maersk operated container vessels effective immediately and for four weeks until 14th April 2020.  The decision is based on the need to keep our crew safe while maintaining operations as normal as possible.

Keeping our people safe is paramount to A.P. Moller – Maersk and given the current situation we can better protect our seafarers by suspending the exchange of crew, as this lessens the number of social interactions they need to have. Secondly, the rapid changes to global travel poses a risk of stranding seafarers in transit, in locations from where they are unable to leave or get sufficient assistance.

Maersk has been in contact with all relevant authorities and organizations and will closely coordinate on any legal or compliance matters to resolve these while ensuring continued safe operation of our fleet.

The International Transport Workers’ Federation, which represents seafarers, said it could not object to the mandatory extensions in the face of national laws closing borders.

“There was no alternative,” Fabrizio Barcellona, a federation official, said. “There is the legislation, you cannot go against it. We don’t want to put the seafarers at unnecessary risk themselves.”

“This is not something we’ve come across before,” said David Hammond, the chief executive of Human Rights At Sea.