GLOBAL VACCINATIONS of seafarers are moving too slowly to prevent epidemics on ships from causing further business disruption, endangering maritime workers and potentially slowing economies trying to extricate themselves from the pandemic downturn.

Infections on ships could further harm already strained global supply chains, just as the United States and Europe recover and businesses begin to stock up for Christmas. The shipping industry is sounding the alarm as infections rise and some ports continue to restrict access to seafarers in developing countries who supply the majority of maritime workers but cannot immunize them.

“It’s a perfect storm,” says Esben Poulsson, president of the International Chamber of Shipping, which represents shipowners. “With this new Delta variety, there is no doubt that this is setting us back and the situation is getting worse. Demand for products is not weakening, crew changes are not happening fast enough, and governments continue to stick their heads in the sand.

All signs now point to a worsening ocean crisis, just as the industry appeared to be emerging from months of port restrictions that have hampered the ability of shipping companies to exchange crews and left hundreds of thousands of people stuck at sea for months. The risks have been highlighted by two recent events that have disrupted critical ports and shipping routes.

In May, a sailor died and dozens of hospital workers in Indonesia fell ill with the Delta variant of COVID-19 after a ship with an infected Filipino crew moored. Around the same time, global shipping was plunged into chaos after one of China’s busiest ports was closed for weeks because at least one dock worker was infected as part of a larger outbreak in Shenzhen.

Gard P&I, the largest marine insurer among more than a dozen mutual liability associations in the industry, has seen an increase in claims for COVID-19 infections. There were more than 100 outbreaks per month in April and May that struck ships and offshore mobile units such as oil rigs involving several sick sailors in each case, according to Alice Amundsen, vice president of claims. At the height of the pandemic in July-August 2020, the Gard experienced nearly 80 outbreaks on ships and offshore units that infected some 160 people, she said.

“It’s like a fire that shines and could quickly turn into a firestorm again,” said Rene Piil Pedersen, managing director of AP Moller-Maersk A / S in Singapore. Even as more and more people are vaccinated, COVID will be there for years to come and there will still be epidemics in ports and on ships, he said last month, calling on governments and industry to working together to protect seafarers and dockworkers as essential employees supporting critical supply chains around the world.

LIMITED VACCINATIONS
Despite efforts in the United States and elsewhere for vaccinate seafarers in ports, most still rely heavily on their home countries for vaccinations, and more than half of the world’s 1.6 million seafarers come from developing countries such as India, the Philippines or Indonesia, which lag far behind most developed economies when it comes to immunization.

The lack of international coordination can be seen in the fact that there is no estimate of the number of seafarers actually vaccinated. This is because there is not a single organization or company to monitor the situation of all workers in various companies, ships and ports.

The International Chamber of Shipping estimates that only 35,000 to 40,000 seafarers – only 2.5% of the global pool – are vaccinated. However, more than 23,000 sailors were trapped in the United States with the help of various charities, and the Chinese company Cosco Shipping Holdings Co. said last month that all seafarers who are ashore and suitable for vaccination have been vaccinated.

India has launched vaccination programs for its more than 200,000 seafarers, but Poulsson and ship managers, including Wilhelmsen ship management, let’s say the reader needs momentum. As of May, about 14% of Indian seafarers had received a single dose of the vaccine, and 1% had received both doses, according to Hindu Business Line, citing an industry estimate.

Many seafarers find it difficult to get their second dose of vaccine as this is often left to the discretion of local clinics, according to Chirag Bahri, director of regions at the International Seafarer Welfare and Assistance Network in India.

“The government wrote something to say that it made seafarers essential workers, but they are not a priority for vaccinations,” Bahri said. “Without a second dose, they really can’t get on a ship.”

SHIPPERS BUY VACCINES
In the Philippines, several companies, including Maersk, said they were working with the government to get vaccines for their workers. While sailors are given priority access, vaccines are scarce, several cities around the Manila capital region stop vaccination programs in recent days when stocks were depleted.

Even though snapshots were available at home, they are not good for workers already on board ships, some of whom do not complete their contracts until next year. About 99% of Filipino seafarers are not vaccinated, said Gerardo Borromeo, the vice president of the Manila-based ICS, who estimates that it will take a year to vaccinate them all.

This is bad news for the shipping industry – the Philippines supplies some 460,000 seafarers, or 25% of the world’s maritime workforce, according to the government. And until more seafarers around the world are vaccinated, infections will continue to rise.

According to Ben Cowling, head of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Hong Kong, the easiest solution would be for each port to have a clinic and offer vaccines to all the sailors who pass by. So far, this has not happened in many places, with only a handful of countries following the lead of the United States in offering vaccinations to seafarers entering ports, regardless of their nationality.

“For parts of the world where they aim to eliminate COVID, loopholes, including maritime workers in container ports, are opportunities for the virus to break through,” Cowling said. “They have to eliminate the risk of getting out of the container ships. “

And if the risk to seafarers is not eliminated, further port closures or epidemics on ships taking them out of service will make Christmas shopping even more difficult and costly.

“We’re going to run out of available crew,” said Mark O’Neil, CEO of Columbia Shipmanagement Ltd., whose company oversees a crew of 18,000. “They would either have COVID, or they would be part of a crew infected with COVID, or they would not be vaccinated and therefore would not be allowed to enter a port. The number of vessels operated will be reduced. – Bloomberg