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Only three months of overtime did Lars Berg (24) land and travel back to Norway. But 150 Norwegian sailors are still waiting to sign up. Some have been at sea for almost a year.
Lars Berg was to spend three months on Odfjell’s tanker Bow Future. It was six months before he returned home.
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National rules for infection control create great challenges for crew changes. Also, the number of flights has been drastically reduced. The result is that thousands of sailors have been “captured” on board. About 150 of them are pr. Norwegian today.
– The hardest thing was never knowing when I could go home. Shortly before it happened, I knew it was a grand opening, says Lars Berg, 24, of Trondheim.
At the end of November last year, he enlisted on the Bow Fortune tanker in Poland. The plan was to be on board the ship as a cadet for almost three months.
The first trip was to the United States. Then they headed to China, through the Panama Canal. When the ship was in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, the world closed.
– The plan was for me to go home when we reached the first port in China. But we found that it didn’t work, says Berg.
The stay at Bow Fortune was longer and different than Lars Berg expected.
Emma nicholl
Most are the only Norwegians on the ship.
At most 600 Norwegian sailors have been “crowned” on board, without the opportunity to skip as planned. Now the number has dropped to around 150. They are mostly captains, and most of them are the only Norwegians on board the ship.
– Needless to say, this is frustrating and difficult for stakeholders, says Senior Advisor Jens Folland of the Norwegian Naval Officers Association.
Folland says that most of the officers are on board ships that are in South America or Africa. Many of these countries have introduced crown rules that prohibit seafarers from landing.
Therefore, it is impossible to make a pattern. The new crews don’t get skippers either.
– We have examples of captains who have been away for nine months. The normal time is three to four months. This not only creates great uncertainty for those on board, but also for those who are waiting for the patterns to kick in, Folland says.
Fear for the safety of ships and crew
Norwegian seafarers continue to make up a very small proportion of seafarers now in this situation. According to the international maritime organization OMI, there will be around 400,000 seafarers who will not understand the pattern. Like many, they are not allowed to continue.
– Some seafarers have been at sea for 17 months without rest, well beyond the 11-month limit specified in the maritime labor agreement, says the UN’s International Maritime Organization, IMO.
The Indian sailors were photographed at the Singapore airport in June, after they were allowed to go ashore to fly back to their home country.
REUTERS / Edgar Su
According to the IMO, the situation has made the life of these seafarers almost unbearable. The IMO also believes it threatens the safety of 60,000 ships worldwide.
– Overworked and mentally exhausted seafarers are asked to keep working, IMO Secretary General Kitack Lim said during an online meeting with various maritime authorities and actors in September.
Concerned about health: – It is a burden
The Norwegian Naval Officers Association is also concerned about the health of the 150 Norwegians. The union still has great confidence that they will be able to do the job they are supposed to do, despite the situation they are in.
– It is a strain, but they are used to dealing with difficult conditions and situations, says Folland.
The association commends the shipping companies and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the work done to get the sailors back home. Prime Minister Erna Solberg has also been involved. In September, he spent part of his keynote address at the UN General Assembly on the issue.
“If the crisis persists, it could lead to major disruptions in global trade, supply chains and the global economy,” he said in the speech.
Prime Minister Erna Solberg’s speech during the UN General Assembly was prerecorded this year. The speech was shown on the big screen and addressed, among other things, the situation of seafarers.
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In his speech, the Prime Minister called on the world community to ensure that seafarers return home. In Norway, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs already established a maritime team on March 16 that has worked on this matter.
He believes that they should be considered socially critical.
Although many of the Norwegian seafarers appointed to the crown have been gradually allowed to return home, the Foreign Ministry describes the situation as increasingly precarious globally. According to Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide (H), it could affect world trade in goods.
– I speak with the foreign ministers of the most relevant port countries to encourage them to allow crew changes, writes the chancellor in an email to Aftenposten.
She is clear about what is needed:
– Our message is that seafarers must be considered as socially critical personnel who can travel despite restrictions, and that we must find international solutions where countries comply with IMO guidelines.
Are the sailors coming home for Christmas?
For Lars Berg, an opportunity appeared when the ship arrived in Singapore at the end of May. The reason was that he was training and no new ones were to enlist.
– Although it was difficult at the end, it was a chapter in my life that I would not have missed. I learned a lot.
The Norwegians who are still away have another question that swirls in their heads: Are they coming home for Christmas?
– It’s difficult to answer, but we hope so, says Jens Folland of the Norwegian Naval Officers Association.
