COVID-19 Pandemic Shows Mariners Are Essential Workers, Experts Say
December 18, 2020 3:52 PM
Daniel Murphy, a deck cadet with United States Merchants Marine, supervises as cargo is transported into the Green Cove with equipment being sent to the Distribution Management Office Yermo, Calif., on July 6 at Naha Port in Okinawa, Japan. MSC Photo
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted why mariners – from ferry crews to masters of Triple E-class container ships – are “essential workers,” while questioning future shipbuilding and threatening the survival of smaller shipping companies, two experts in maritime commerce told USNI News.
Joshua Tallis, lead author of CNA’s “Adrift: COVID-19 and the Safety of Seafarers,” said the closing of ports across the globe to stop the spread of infection had the most immediate impact on seafarers, tankers and container ships. In the cruise industry, he said much of the attention initially was on the condition of the passengers as those ve