Seatrade-Maritime: Filipino seafarers on the frontline of global conflicts

Published by Seatrade-Maritime

If you want to get a sense of scale of the human impact on seafarers of conflicts around the world scroll through the Philippines Department of Migrant Workers Facebook page.

You will see post after post about seafarers returning home to the Philippines from drone and missile attacks on their vessels in the Black Sea, Strait of Hormuz, and Russia, some sadly injured or deceased, and others exercising their right to refuse to sail.

Just looking through the last seven days posts on the DMW page there are crew returning to the Philippines from some nine different vessels, most involved in attacks.

In a post from 14 August the DMW said it continued to address the situation of 281 Filipino seafarers caught up in attacks in the Black Sea. Of the total 262 were reported to be safe and unharmed, three had died, 15 were injured, and one seafarer missing. Around 200 have been repatriated including the 15 injured crew and two of three deceased seafarers.

DMW Secretary Hans Cacdac said that the ongoing exchanges of fire between Ukraine and Russia the department was strictly enforcing its directive to temporarily suspend the deployment of Filipino crew members to the Northern Black Sea. The DMW will take disciplinary against crewing agencies and shipowners’ violating the directive.

Meanwhile the department said it continued to monitor the situation of around 3,000 Filipino crew who remain stranded in the Arabian Gulf due to the situation in the Strait of Hormuz. The seafarers have been stuck on vessels in the region for five and half months now since the conflict between US and Iran started on 28 February.

In other posts over the last seven days repatriations from individual vessels were detailed. Three seafarers returned home from being onboard the bulker Abu Al Abyad involved in an attack in the Strait of Hormuz, and 11 crew that disembarked from the tanker Europe I ahead of the vessel’s planned transit through designated High-Risk and Warlike Areas in the northern Black Sea region.

In another post eight seafarers returned to Manila after the bulk carrier Breadfan they were serving was struck by a drone in the Russian Port of Novorossiysk. The crew were met by government officials and their crewing agency Anglo-Eastern Crew Management Philippines.

“We are happy that you were able to be safely and securely repatriated, unlike our fellow Filipinos who were killed due to incidents abroad,” said DMW Assistant Secretary Maria Regina Angela G. Galias. The right for Filipino seafarers to refuse to sail into high-risk areas and war zones was stressed.

In another case nine Filipino seafarers Liberian-flagged bulk carrier Rostrum Optiman arrived back in Manila after a drone strike on the vessel as it entered the Port of Taman in Russia.

On 12 August seven Filipino seafarers from Liberian-flagged bulker Emil landed in Manila. The crew were repatriated after the vessel was hit by a drone while berthed in the Port of Odessa, Ukraine.

Separately 25 seafarers arrived in Manila on 13 August. They comprised 22 crew from the bulk carrier Johny and three from the tanker Marathi. Both vessels were damaged in drone strikes while navigating the Black Sea.

On 10 August 20 seafarers arrived back home in Manila, 12 from the tanker Acheloos and eight bulker Else. Their vessels were hit by drone strikes in the Gulf/Strait of Hormuz and Black Sea. A total of 14 Filipino seafarers have been repatriated from the Acheloos.

All these repatriations took place across the space of a week clearly emphasizing the scale of the impact the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine and Russia are having on crew from the world’s largest supplier of seafarers to the international shipping fleet.