They are “key workers”: Sounding horns and sending a signal for seafarers

Together with CMA CGM, Maersk and MSC, Hapag-Lloyd has called upon its seafarers to sound their horn at noon whenever they are in port. The campaign aims to loudly draw attention to the ongoing crew-change crisis, as local and national regulations continue to make it difficult if not impossible to carry out replacements.

Seafarers ship important goods around the globe, thereby ensuring that the shelves in our supermarkets and elsewhere are well filled. Nevertheless, they are not classified as system-relevant “key workers”. Worldwide, about 200,000 seafarers are currently stranded on their ships waiting to be released and to be able to return home to their families. Some of them have already been on board for much longer than was originally stipulated by their contracts.

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hapag-Lloyd’s Fleet Management has been working closely together with the relevant authorities in addition to trying to get the issue higher on the political agenda. Unfortunately, such efforts have not done much to improve the situation of seafarers so far. This inertia has prompted the largest shipping companies in Europe to team up to campaign for the introduction of uniform standards worldwide. One aim of these efforts is to enable seafarers to sign on and sign off regardless of the respective regulations.

Many countries continue to be under lockdown – but crew changers also are prevented by the regulations of local port authorities or national rules. And these sometimes change on a daily basis.

The International Chamber of Shipping, a globally active merchant shipping organisation, had also called on its members to sound the horns of their ships – with the specific aim of raising awareness of the issue at a virtual “maritime summit” led by the UK government on 9 July to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on crew changes. At the end of the summit, 12 countries signed a joint statement encouraging all International Maritime Organization (IMO) states to designate seafarers as “key workers”. This is an important first step, but uniform standards still need to be established worldwide so that crew changes can take place smoothly even in times of crisis, such as the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

You can find more information on the summit and the joint statement here.