Due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, seafarers around the world have been facing difficulties in being replaced by other crew and getting repatriated.
Specifically for Europe, the very limited capacity to issue visas to enter the Schengen area will be a major bottleneck once travel restrictions are lifted. Yet, despite the high level of awareness, the issue persists.
“In some cases, seafarers have now been confined to ships for months beyond their contractual time at sea,” Estelle Brentnall, the ETF’s Head of Maritime, said.
