sailing
In 2020, Christiaan De Beukelaer spent 150 days covering 14,000 nautical miles aboard the schooner Avontuur, a hundred-year-old sailing vessel that transports cargo across the Atlantic Ocean. Embarking in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, he wanted to understand the realities of a little-known alternative to the shipping industry on which our global economy relies, and which…
The COVID-19 pandemic has left hundreds of thousands of seafarers stranded on board ships, leading to a ‘crew change crisis’ that needs urgent action
COVID-19 Border Closures Cause Humanitarian Crew Change Crisis at Sea The COVID-19 pandemic has caused many countries to close their borders to travellers, in an attempt to contain the spread of the virus. Given the initially indiscriminate travel restrictions adopted in March 2020, many seafarers have been stranded on their ships, well beyond their initial…
Seafarers may be invisible; they are also indispensable. Despite the changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is thanks to seafarers that the life as we know it still mostly exists.
In early 2020, stranded cruise ships became a stark symbol of the COVID-19 global pandemic. Now it’s seafarers stranded on cargo ships.
It’s high time the international shipping industry radically curbed its emissions. The industry must set a net-zero target and adopt a realistic plan to meet it.
If wind-propelled cargo vessels should be successful at helping to decarbonise shipping, a shift is needed in the way the industry works.
De honderdduizenden zeelieden die niet aan wal raken, zijn de onzichtbare slachtoffers van de corona-epidemie. Toch zijn de rederijen niet snel geneigd om hun bemanningen te wisselen. Daar moet verandering in komen.
Hundreds of thousands of maritime workers remain stranded at sea because many countries refuse to classify them as “essential workers” – it’s time to bring them home.
When international ports close, what happens to those at sea?