The number of crew members caught aboard vessels with ended contracts due to crew change difficulties is decreasing, but the Omicron variant continues to create uncertainty.
Photo: Carlos Garcia /Ritzau Scanpix
Challenges with crew changes continue to loosen up, resulting in the number of sailors stuck aboard ships after contracts expire is decreasing, shows the latest figures from the Neptune Declaration initiative.
The portion of crew stranded with expired contracts has fallen by 3.7 percent this last month from 4.7 percent, while the number of sailors aboard vessels longer than 11 months after contracts terminate has also declined from 0.7 to 0.4 percent.
This is the lowest level since Neptune Declaration started to publish such figures in May of 2021.
Meanwhile, the most recent poll shows that crew vaccination has also increased by 10.3 percentage points to 59.8 percent now in January, the initiative writes about the update.
Neptune Declaration notes, however, that the latest figures do not show the full effect of the Omicron variant, which continues to create uncertainty. Efforts to ensure booster vaccines for sailors are described as a new challenge.
English Edit: Daniel Frank Christensen
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