Workers Keeping Global Supply Chains Running Warn of “System Breakdown”

(CNN Business) – Sailors, truck drivers and airline workers have endured quarantines, travel restrictions, as well as complex vaccination requirements and COVID-19 testing to keep already saturated supply chains on the move during the pandemic.

But now, many are reaching their breaking point, posing a further threat to the complex network of ports, container ships and trucking companies that move cargo around the world.

On Wednesday in an open letter Heads of state attending the United Nations General Assembly, the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) and other industry groups warned of a “collapse of the global transportation system” if governments do not They restore freedom of movement to transport workers and give them priority to receive the vaccines against covid-19 recognized by the World Health Organization.

“Global supply chains are beginning to weaken as two years of pressure on transportation workers take their toll,” the groups wrote. The letter has also been signed by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the International Road Transport Union (IRU) and the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF). Together they represent 65 million transportation workers worldwide.

“All transport sectors also suffer from worker shortages and expect more to leave as a result of the mistreatment millions of people have suffered during the pandemic, putting the supply chain under greater threat,” he added.

Guy Platten, ICS general secretary, said the worker shortage is likely to worsen towards the end of the year because seafarers may not want to commit to new contracts and risk not returning home at Christmas due to port closures and constant changes in travel restrictions.

Fragile supply chains

That will put pressure on extended supply chains and could, for example, worsen current challenges with supplying food and fuel in the UK.

“The global supply chain is very fragile and depends so much on a sailor [de Filipinas] like a trucker to deliver goods, “added Stephen Cotton, ITF general secretary.” The time has come for heads of government to respond to the needs of these workers. “

When Karynn Marchal and her crew were told they would not be allowed to go ashore when docking in Hokkaido, Japan, it was a major morale booster.

“None of us knew how long it would last,” the 28-year-old director of a ship carrying cars told CNN Business.

That was over 18 months ago. Marchal, and hundreds of thousands of seafarers like her, have not been granted permission to go ashore since then.

After weeks aboard a ship, a couple of hours ashore provides much-needed respite. But sailors can only leave a ship to travel elsewhere, usually to return home. Marchal considers herself “one of the luckiest”, because at least she has been able to return to the United States.

“There are people who have been trapped in the sea for more than a year,” he said.

At the beginning of the pandemic, many sailors agreed to extend their contracts for several months to maintain the supply of food, fuel, medicine and other consumer goods around the world. The grounding of planes and the closing of borders had made it almost impossible to move workers from one part of the world to another, as well as to exchange crews.

At the peak of the crisis in 2020, 400,000 sailors were unable to leave their ships to make routine changes, some working up to 18 months after the end of their initial contracts, according to the ICS.

Multiple vaccinations and repeated tests

While these numbers have improved, crew changes remain a major challenge. Some travel restrictions were re-imposed as a result of the delta variant of the coronavirus and carriers continue to face a large number of vaccination and testing requirements just to do their job. These are often imposed without notice, Platten said.

The inconsistent requirements mean that some sailors have been vaccinated multiple times because some countries have only approved certain vaccines, according to Platten.

You know of at least one sailor who has received six doses of the COVID-19 vaccine or three two-dose regimens. “It’s an absolute nightmare. I can’t understand why we don’t have some kind of global standard,” he told CNN Business.

Meanwhile, the uneven distribution of vaccines globally means that only about 25% to 30% of seafarers, many of whom are from India and the Philippines, are fully vaccinated, according to Platten.

Coronavirus testing is also a challenge. In February, Germany unilaterally introduced mandatory PCR testing with no exemptions for truck drivers, prompting neighboring countries, including Italy, to impose similar restrictions to prevent thousands of drivers from being stranded on their own territory.

These measures affected thousands of truckers, particularly at the Brennero pass between Italy and Austria, forcing them to queue for days in freezing temperatures without food or medical facilities. Since then, the EU Covid Digital Certificate has alleviated some of the pressure, but bottlenecks remain.

“Drivers have faced hundreds of border problems and roadblocks throughout the pandemic,” said Umberto de Pretto, IRU secretary general. “Truckers, and citizens and businesses that depend on the goods they move, pay a high price for misguided covid restrictions that do not exempt workers from transportation,” he added.

Last month, Marchal, the CEO and her crew had to undergo 10 covid-19 tests in seven days before they were allowed to enter the shipyard in Singapore for repairs. Maintenance was delayed a week after a coronavirus outbreak in the port and the ship is not expected to depart before mid-October. Meanwhile, the crew must remain on board the ship.

Mandatory quarantines upon disembarking and arriving in their home countries can mean that pilots and sailors spend a month of their vacation trapped in a hotel room before they can see their families.

Sailors “run the shipping industry” but have not been given the priority of front-line workers, said Shaailesh Sukte, the captain of Seaspan Amazon, a container ship. “If you want the world [siga] on the go, you need to relax travel restrictions, “he told CNN Business.