China, Australia trade: Coal sailors stranded for months adelaidenow.com.au - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from adelaidenow.com.au Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Catch-22 keeps mariners caught in geopolitical storm
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Desperate mariners on ships stranded for months by China s effective ban on Australian coal imports are being prevented from leaving by a stand-off between a complex network of shipping firms.
While the coal ships cannot unload in China, a catch-22 in maritime law allows importers to insist the ships not take their cargo elsewhere on pain of forcibly arresting the ship as though it were a person.
Ships have continued to unload coal from other countries at Chinese ports even as those from Australia languish.
Credit:AP
One shipowner, the Mediterranean Shipping Company, said it has repeatedly requested permission to divert its ship Anastasia, which is stuck at the Chinese port of Caofeidian, to another country to change crew but has been rebuffed.
China says Indian sailors on two cargo ships stranded due to Covid measures - बॉर्डर पर टेंशन की वजह से चीन में जहाजों पर फंसे भारतीय? चीन ने बनाया यह बहाना livehindustan.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from livehindustan.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
And many of those men and women shouldn t have to be on those vessels.
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Fuelled by the Covid-19 pandemic, the crew change crisis has dragged on for months. The International Chamber of Shipping and International Transport Workers Federation has said that some 400,000 seafarers are now forced to work beyond their contract.
This is a humanitarian crisis, as the International Labour Organization described the situation in a recent statement.
Expressing deep concern for the situation, an ILO committee said inaction by its member states on the crew change could amount to forced labour .