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2021 IN REVIEW | Life at sea In association with MatthewsDaniel Club
Who would want to go to sea in the post-pandemic world? Simon Ward, of leading international loss adjusting and marine warranty surveying firm MatthewsDaniel, reviews the escalating pressures placed on seafarers during the Covid-19 era and argues that life at sea remains an attractive career but that more support is needed There are few organisations with histories as long as P&I clubs. The mutual P&I system seems almost by definition sustainable and one which we all may take for granted at times. Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020 a number of incidents have brought the shipping industry into sharper view. The most significant effects have, however, perhaps largely been in a blind spot to all but the keenest industry watchers: the seafarer. The seafarer has been at the heart of all of this. Not surprisingly, the industry press is now commenting on potential crewing shortages with many seafarers questioning whether a life at sea remains a viable career choice. Also, more specifically, we have to ask what the experiences of the Covid-19 pandemic era means for marine claims? In recent times, the shift of global manufacturing to the The Marine Insurer | January 2022
Asia Pacific region has occurred in parallel to an increasing dependence on ‘just enough, just in time’ supply chains. This trend has been underpinned by a network of global maritime trade routes that have increasingly relied on larger and larger vessels to move goods. The TEU capacity of container ships has more than doubled since the start of this decade but manning levels have more or less remained the same. The result is a combination of large high-volume ships manned by proportionally fewer crew able. Moreover, while these vessels are able to deliver more goods per journey they also have a significantly larger impact on global supply chains when something goes wrong. No one reading this publication will need any prompting to remember the disruption caused in March 2021 when the 20,000 TEU container vessel MV Ever Given grounded in the Suez Canal. Not only did the companies with goods on board suffer
