“My mind says to stop, but my heart says to keep going on”

‘Day of the Seafarer’ is coming up soon. That day where we show seafarers our support and gratitude by shouting out loud that ‘Seafarers are Keyworkers'!
But this year, we thought we’d change the concept a little bit and instead call it ‘Week of the Seafarer’. Simply because we believe that seafarers deserve more than just a day to be acknowledged for their extraordinary and enormous effort and sacrifices during the corona pandemic. So, from Friday 19th of June and all the way to Thursday, June 25 on the real Day of the Seafarer, we are dedicating our platforms to pay tribute to seafarers who are experiencing extra-long voyages and are missing home and loved ones. And to all other seafarers who are simply awesome because they make the world move every day.

This is the voice of Second Engineer on board MAREN MAERSK, Pankaj Mishra:

I joined the vessel in end January in Europe and within weeks we had gotten the news of a virus outbreak in Wuhan. At this point in time it didn’t seem like a world event, more like a localised issue. Soon we left for Asia, and every day we were getting updates from all sources that this virus outbreak is getting out of hand. We were worried for our safety and our only goal was to wrap up the Chinese coastal voyage and get out of there. We took all possible precautions and briefed the crew about measures to be taken to ensure that we wouldn’t be getting infected. We prepared ourselves to face the worst.

But by then, the Corona Virus had taken a good hold across the globe, all the ports which we were calling were affected by this outbreak.
Before we knew it, every single Asian country in our route had gone into lockdown. We were also gravely affected by this. Many of my team members were supposed to be going home in Asia, some already were a bit extended on their contracts. However, all of them had to stay onboard till Europe.
After finishing the Asian run, we headed for Europe, hoping that the situation will be better there and we could return to our families. But halfway through the voyage, Europe went into complete lockdown and soon our home countries went into lockdown as well. Whichever port we went to, we took the best of precautions to protect ourselves, as it seemed to be the only cure.
We were together in this situation, helping each other. Some stronger than others, boosting each other’s morale and carrying us forward as a team.
Every single person was affected by this outbreak.
Our world was in lockdown. Our world was working from home. Or world was crippled.
However, ships sailed.

The mighty blades, they kept churning the sea. Moving. Carrying all the necessities. Food. Medicine. PPE. Equipment. We did not stop.
The seafaring community kept going on and on. No ship had stopped working. We had a task at hand. We connected every country. We supplied to every country. We carried from every country.

The global trade has always been moved by ships. Economy of the world depends on the shipping industry. Even the food on your plates has been brought by us. Seafarers, since the first who dared to cross the oceans, have made trade possible for the masses. For decades, ships have been sailing constantly and quietly in the background of this present world.

Now in this crisis, the need has arisen to recognise the work of the seafarer. To maintain the health of our economy, the health of a seafarer is paramount. Ships have to keep moving to bring out our world from the impact of the Corona Virus. To sustain our way of life, a seafarer has to continue his job, every day.

We are doing our part, we need now for you to do yours. Seafarers need the status of key-workers from all countries, so that a fellow colleague can come and relieve the already overworked shipmate. A system where people who move the world are allowed to travel on and off the ships, is what is needed to keep the global supply chain healthy and working at its best.

I can define a key-worker, someone who sacrifices his personal interests for the greater good. Someone whose work is paramount for global survival. Someone who is away from his family to serve. Someone who is risking his own well-being for the sake of his job.

A seafarer is this someone.

I am writing this from one of our last ports in Asia, we completed the Asian coastal route and are heading back to Europe soon. We are still the same team here, hoping that maybe this time in Europe, we will finally get to go home to our families.

One of my colleagues said to me one day and I quote, “My mind says to stop, but my heart says to keep going on”. This is a key-worker. This is a seafarer.