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Merchant sailors trapped on their ships by Covid-19 fight exhaustion and despair

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  1. spit-evil-olive-tips
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    Aspect of the pandemic and its affect on global logistics that I hadn't thought of or seen mentioned before:

    Aspect of the pandemic and its affect on global logistics that I hadn't thought of or seen mentioned before:

    But the Covid-19 pandemic led countries to start closing borders and refusing to let sailors come ashore. For cargo ships around the world, the process known as crew change, in which seamen like Mr. Santillan are replaced by new ones as their contracts expire, ground nearly to a halt.

    In June, the United Nations called the situation a “growing humanitarian and safety crisis.” And there is still no solution in sight.

    Last month, the International Transport Workers’ Federation, a seafarers’ union, estimated that 300,000 of the 1.2 million crew members at sea were essentially stranded on their ships, working past the expiration of their original contracts and fighting isolation, uncertainty and fatigue.

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