Charities are offering support to sailors caught up in attacks by Iran-backed militants
The deaths of three sailors in a Houthi missile attack on a ship in the Red Sea last week heightened fears among the seafaring community, with some looking to abandon contracts and return home.
The shipping industry has been placed on a war footing since the first assaults on commercial vessels by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels began in November, after the start of the war in Gaza.
A chief officer, bosun and cook on board the Barbados-flagged True Confidence tanker were killed while sailing off the coast of Yemen last Wednesday, in the first deadly incident amid dozens of attacks on commercial vessels.
Many due to sail the same busy trade route are now looking to be released from working contracts.
The crisis poses a recruitment problem for shipping companies, the International Seafarers’ Welfare and Assistance Network said.
“At the moment, a lot of ships are still transiting the Red Sea,” said Chirag Bahri, the network’s international operations manager.
“But because some companies are on regular charters and operating vessels that need to deliver, they can’t go around the Cape of Good Hope because they are carrying perishable cargo.
“This attack was the first fatal incident, we also have a few injured and one of them has had his leg amputated.
“This situation is going to be impacting a lot of seafarers and their families, these deaths will scare them as it is a frightening situation they find themselves in, for the entire shipping industry.”
Mr Bahri, a former seafarer who was taken hostage on a tanker by Somali pirates during his career, recognises the unrest many crew now feel. Although the current crisis will have similar ramifications for crew, companies have a legal obligation to offer them a way out.
“The companies are suffering a lot and obviously there’s a lot of tension among seafarers,” he said.
“In my situation, we knew we were not going to get killed and the company eventually paid the ransom. In this scenario, if a rocket hits your vessel in the oil tank or somewhere on the bridge – it is catastrophic.
“High-risk routes are subject to maritime rules. This is not the first time they have been applied, as they were in place during the Gulf War and the height of Somali piracy.
“Unfortunately not all seafarers are aware of this and how it can be used to protect themselves.”
After an increase in attacks in February, the International Bargaining Forum Warlike Operations Area Committee agreed to additional measures to support seafarers’ safety and welfare.
High-risk areas were expanded to include the Southern Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and surrounding waters.
It allows the sailors the right to refuse to sail into the area with repatriation at a company’s cost and compensation equal to two months’ basic wage.
However, the two months’ basic pay compensation is not applicable if the sailors transferred to another vessel belonging or related to the same owner, on the same rank, wages and terms.
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