Detention of Tomago Aluminium alumina ship puts spotlight on a broader COVID-19 seafarer crisis

The Union Jasper at Mayfield 4 berth yesterday with the William The Fourth steamship, dwarfed, in the channel. Picture: Ian Kirkwood

EVEN if the crew of the Unison Jasper - bringing alumina to Newcastle - were not owed money as alleged by the International Transport Workers Federation, they were already existing in a netherworld of stateless existence caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

According to ITF estimates, between 300,000 and 400,000 seafarers are "trapped" on between 15,000 and 20,000 cargo vessels, plying the world's sea lanes, prevented almost everywhere from exchanging their crews because of COVID-19 laws confining them on board wherever they tie up.

UNISON JASPER FILE:

• Today: Government says AMSA shows shipping laws doing their job
• Last week: Alumina ship in Newcastle detained over unpaid wages and more

And it's not only the ITF and their affiliates in the various maritime and seamen's unions who are making such claims.

In a newsletter published on Friday, the peak body Shipping Australia issued a comprehensive plea - titled "Reasons why Australia should help crew changeovers take place here" - saying that "huge numbers of seafarers" were trapped and suffering because of coronavirus restrictions.

DRY LAND AT LAST: Crew of Unison Jasper, who the International Transport Federation says have been at sea for 14 months without a break, preparing to be driven to Sydney on Friday afternoon for COVID quarantine. Picture: ITF/MUA

Describing a Western Australian government call for crew changes to take place "overseas" as "uninformed", Shipping Australia says: "Demanding that crews are changed in other countries ignores the fact that other countries also have restrictions too."

Under an international maritime convention recognised by Australia - and referred to yesterday by the office of Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack - the maximum time without leave at sea is 11 months.

On July 1, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority issued a new marine notice extending this to a maximum of 14 months, but only, it says, until October 1.

If every country makes it too hard to carry out crew changes then we end with hundreds of thousands of seafarers trapped at sea. Australian governments need to show leadership and help seafarers change crew in this country

Shipping Australia, Friday

Life is hardly beer and skittles on land with coronavirus, but the conditions on board the Unison Jasper can be reasonably described as "modern slavery".

The ITF, which is based in London, will do all it can to highlight the situation in Newcastle, and to tie the use of this ship, and its alleged shortcomings, to the management of Tomago Aluminium.

In the meantime, the virus continues its seemingly unstoppable march: globally, in Victoria and now, unfortunately, we are seeing COVID-19 return to our region.

Across Australia, case numbers are skewed towards the young, but the deaths and illness lie still with the old. It's an awful situation.

ISSUE: 39,376.

TWIN PEAKS: Australian case numbers, taken last night from the Johns Hopkins University coronavirus dashboard, showing the nation with 17,895 cases and 208 deaths.

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