8,000 Seafarers Still Stranded Behind the Strait of Hormuz as Crew Changes Break Down

More than four months into the Gulf war, about 8,000 seafarers from outside the region are still stuck on ships inside the Persian Gulf. At the peak there were far more. In April the IMO put the number at around 20,000 mariners on 2,000 ships. Roughly 11,000 were trapped at the point when rescue planning got serious. By June, 136 ships had been evacuated and about 2,900 sailors brought out.

The UN has called it a crisis with no precedent since the Second World War. That isn't exaggeration. Seafarers have been caught in wars before, but not in these numbers, on this many ships, for this long, in a waterway the whole world depends on.

What being stranded means

Most of these crews are not in immediate danger on any given day. Ships sit at anchor off Dubai, Doha, Dammam or Basra. The problem is time.

Seafarers sign contracts of four to nine months. Many of the crews stuck in the Gulf were already halfway through when the war started on February 28. They're now past the end of their contracts with no relief coming. Crew change needs replacements who are willing to fly in, visas to enter the port country, and flights out. All of that broke down at once.

The Philippines, which supplies a large share of the world's seafarers, stopped sending its nationals to the Gulf early in the war. Iraq and Kuwait temporarily stopped issuing visas. Owners offered war-zone bonuses as high as $30,000 a month and still struggled to find replacements. Filipino and Indian crews together make up about 30 percent of the global maritime workforce, so when those two pipelines dry up, there is no one else to call.

The human cost

At least 14 civilian seafarers have been killed in attacks on merchant ships since the war began. Two Indian crew died when the tanker Skylight was hit off Khasab on March 1. Three died on the Mayuree Naree on March 11. Crew have been injured on container ships, including eight on the CMA CGM San Antonio in May. Iran reports around 50 of its own mariners dead. At least one seafarer is still unaccounted for.

Then there's the strain nobody counts. Months at anchor with no shore leave, with attacks on nearby ships on the radio and no date to go home.

A rescue plan that didn't last

The IMO announced an evacuation plan in June after the US-Iran memorandum of understanding raised hopes of a reopened strait. Within days it was paused, after new Iranian attacks on shipping. The organization now says any future evacuation needs designated safe corridors and real security guarantees.

Some countries have acted alone. India's navy escorted five Indian-flagged LPG carriers out through the Gulf of Oman in March under Operation Sankalp. Six cruise ships carrying about 15,000 passengers finally left in April after weeks stuck in port. Cargo ship crews have had no comparable effort on that scale.

What the industry owes them

Shipping talks a lot about seafarers as "key workers," a phrase that caught on during the pandemic. The Gulf is testing whether that means anything. The ships inside are valuable. Their cargoes are valuable. But the owners, charterers and flag states have a responsibility to the people on board, and so far the system hasn't delivered for them.

Getting 8,000 people home should not wait for a full reopening of Hormuz. A humanitarian corridor, agreed by all sides and monitored by a neutral party, is the minimum. Until there is one, the crews stay where they are, and every week the number of seafarers past the end of their contracts grows.