The United Nations has launched an initiative to protect seafarers’ human rights. However, new Covid-19 variants, a lack of ‘key worker’ status and travel restrictions mean the crisis is far from over, and we must continue to urge governments and firms to act. One year on from when Fidelity International first raised the plight of seafarers stranded due to Covid-19 measures, things have begun to improve. The number of seafarers stranded aboard their ships has halved to 200,000 and the UN recently launched an initiative designed to safeguard seafarers’ rights that covered many of the points we had raised.
However, those workers still stuck far from home continue to face the threat of Covid-19 variants (they are often not part of local vaccine programmes) and pandemic-related restrictions. Each one represents a link in the chain of global trade, and their situation risks potential disruption of the kind we witnessed when the giant cargo ship Ever Given blocked the Suez Canal in March 2021. As such, it remains critical that this crisis be fully resolved and soon.
A brewing humanitarian crisis and a threat to global supply chains
In spring 2020, as the Covid-19 crisis deepened, we became aware of increasing news of disruptions to global maritime activity. Restrictions on travel and trade were closing off ports and cancelling flights, causing severe delays to the ordinary rotation of cargo vessel crews between their ships and home ports.
Hundreds of thousands of seafarers became stranded aboard their vessels, as stringent quarantine measures across the world made it impossible to disembark at designated ports or return home by air. At the height of the crisis in September 2020, over 400,000 seafarers were stranded at sea, with many working long beyond their contracts. This became a liability for the commercial shipping sector as well as a brewing humanitarian crisis for the hundreds of thousands of seafarers who are the engine of global trade.
Flora Wang, Director, Sustainable Investing, said at the time: “If no one does anything, it’s just a matter of time before something disastrous happens.”
Driving change through investor engagement
Shipping is responsible for 90 per cent of global trade. It is essential not just to a global economic recovery from Covid-19, but to maintaining our current way of life. To protect global supply chains and seafarers’ health and safety, therefore, Fidelity’s sustainable investing team and shipping analysts sounded the alarm by actively engaging with our investee companies on the issue.
We then reached out to other investors to do the same. In December 2020, a consortium of international investors, led by Fidelity, representing US$2 trillion of assets under management called for urgent action to end this humanitarian crisis in an open letter to the UN. We reiterated the need to classify seafarers as ‘key workers’ to enable them to continue to perform their essential services in a safe and secure manner. And as the most effective way to resolve this crisis, we also recommended seafarers have access to vaccines with immediate effect.
Around the same time, the United Nations Assembly called on UN member states to designate seafarers and other marine personnel as key workers and to implement relevant measures to allow stranded seafarers to be repatriated and others to join ships, and to ensure access to medical care.
New UN human rights tool urges businesses to act
Since then, the number of stranded individuals has declined thanks to the efforts undertaken by governments, shipowners, and other parties such as trade organisations and investors who continued to raise awareness about the need to resolve this matter urgently.
The UN has also launched the ‘Human Rights Due Diligence Tool’, which says businesses should “undertake human rights due diligence to identify, prevent, mitigate and address adverse human rights impacts on seafarers resulting from restrictions to crew changes. This involves putting pressure — individually and collectively — on governments and maritime transport providers to ensure respect for seafarers’ rights.”
This is a welcome development and mirrors many of the points raised by Fidelity, including the need to:
- Urge charterers and other business partners to be flexible and to accept route deviation requests from shipping companies to facilitate crew changes
- Encourage these companies to consider contributing to or sharing the costs of deviation and other expenses relating to the pandemic
- Call on government authorities to implement coordinated, consistent policies and legal measures designed to alleviate the situation of seafarers during the pandemic, such as designating seafarers as “key workers” and implementing the framework of protocols recommended by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).
Reprieve, but the issue remains
Despite recent improvements, however, the issue has not been fully resolved and the threat of new Covid-19 variants could quickly reverse the tide. Today, fewer than 60 countries have responded to the UN’s initiative and designated seafarers as key workers. Seafarers are also not being prioritised in many countries’ vaccination roll-out plans.
In a recent statement, IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim noted: “Governments should identify and prepare for the challenges of the vaccination of seafarers who spend long periods of time away from their home countries. We need to continue to work together to develop relevant protocols and guidance around vaccine certification. This is particularly important as any barriers to travel created by national vaccine protocols may further complicate an already difficult crew-change situation.”
We therefore continue to urge fellow investors to engage with companies on this issue, governments to take the necessary action and the media to keep raising awareness of the seafarers' plight.
This document is for Investment Professionals only and should not be relied on by private investors.
This document is provided for information purposes only and is intended only for the person or entity to which it is sent. It must not be reproduced or circulated to any other party without prior permission of Fidelity.
This document does not constitute a distribution, an offer or solicitation to engage the investment management services of Fidelity, or an offer to buy or sell or the solicitation of any offer to buy or sell any securities in any jurisdiction or country where such distribution or offer is not authorised or would be contrary to local laws or regulations. Fidelity makes no representations that the contents are appropriate for use in all locations or that the transactions or services discussed are available or appropriate for sale or use in all jurisdictions or countries or by all investors or counterparties.
This communication is not directed at, and must not be acted on by persons inside the United States and is otherwise only directed at persons residing in jurisdictions where the relevant funds are authorised for distribution or where no such authorisation is required. Fidelity is not authorised to manage or distribute investment funds or products in, or to provide investment management or advisory services to persons resident in, mainland China. All persons and entities accessing the information do so on their own initiative and are responsible for compliance with applicable local laws and regulations and should consult their professional advisers.
Reference in this document to specific securities should not be interpreted as a recommendation to buy or sell these securities, but is included for the purposes of illustration only. Investors should also note that the views expressed may no longer be current and may have already been acted upon by Fidelity. The research and analysis used in this documentation is gathered by Fidelity for its use as an investment manager and may have already been acted upon for its own purposes. This material was created by Fidelity International.
Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.
This document may contain materials from third-parties which are supplied by companies that are not affiliated with any Fidelity entity (Third-Party Content). Fidelity has not been involved in the preparation, adoption or editing of such third-party materials and does not explicitly or implicitly endorse or approve such content.
Fidelity International refers to the group of companies which form the global investment management organization that provides products and services in designated jurisdictions outside of North America Fidelity, Fidelity International, the Fidelity International logo and F symbol are trademarks of FIL Limited. Fidelity only offers information on products and services and does not provide investment advice based on individual circumstances.
Issued in Europe: Issued by FIL Investments International (FCA registered number 122170) a firm authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, FIL (Luxembourg) S.A., authorised and supervised by the CSSF (Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier) and FIL Investment Switzerland AG. For German wholesale clients issued by FIL Investment Services GmbH, Kastanienhöhe 1, 61476 Kronberg im Taunus. For German Institutional clients issued by FIL (Luxembourg) S.A., 2a, rue Albert Borschette BP 2174 L-1021 Luxembourg.
In Hong Kong, this document is issued by FIL Investment Management (Hong Kong) Limited and it has not been reviewed by the Securities and Future Commission. FIL Investment Management (Singapore) Limited (Co. Reg. No: 199006300E) is the legal representative of Fidelity International in Singapore. FIL Asset Management (Korea) Limited is the legal representative of Fidelity International in Korea. In Taiwan, Independently operated by FIL Securities (Taiwan ) Limited, 11F, 68 Zhongxiao East Road., Section 5, Xinyi Dist., Taipei City, Taiwan 11065, R.O.C Customer Service Number: 0800-00-9911#2 .
Issued in Australia by Fidelity Responsible Entity (Australia) Limited ABN 33 148 059 009, AFSL No. 409340 (“Fidelity Australia”). This material has not been prepared specifically for Australian investors and may contain information which is not prepared in accordance with Australian law.
ED21 - 072
