Anti-virus controls strand merchant sailors aboard ships

BEIJING (AP) — The crew of the U.S.-owned Horizon Spirit expect to spend Christmas looking after their 800-foot (240-meter) long container ship in a southern Chinese shipyard, barred, like thousands of sailors worldwide, from going ashore due to coronavirus restrictions.

Most of the 22-member crew that left Los Angeles on Oct. 22 have been confined to the ship while it is being overhauled in Nantong in eastern China, said its third mate, Harvey Smith. Normally, they would have moved to a hotel to avoid welding, painting and other work.

“Just now, the paint fumes are so bad that we have to wear a mask to the galley to pick up our food,” said Smith, of Wilmington, California, by phone from Nantong, northwest of Shanghai on the Yangtze River.

Worldwide, nearly 400,000 merchant sailors who transport food, medical supplies and other goods are blocked from going ashore, according to the International Chamber of Shipping, an industry group. Some have been aboard their ships for up to 17 months.

Anti-virus controls and visa restrictions in many countries prevent foreign sailors from flying in to replace ship crews. The secretary-general of the U.N. International Maritime Organization, Kitack Lim, has called it a “crew change crisis.”

Chinese factories and stores have reopened since the ruling Communist Party declared the virus under control in March. That has driven a surge in demand for imported oil, industrial components and consumer goods. But few new visas are being issued, meaning many foreign sailors cannot leave their ships.

China stopped issuing new visas in March. In October, it eased restrictions to let shippers replace crews in Shanghai and nine other ports, but not Nantong.

Aboard the Horizon Spirit, Smith said he spends his days as a fire lookout while...