Photo caption: Members of the crew of the ANASTASIA receive a warm welcome upon arrival in India. MSC thanks these heroic seafarers and we are glad they are back home with their loved ones.
The reunions are overdue, but we are glad to finally see the courageous crew of the cargo ship ANASTASIA repatriated to India after an extraordinarily challenging stint at sea.
The ANASTASIA is one of dozens of ships that became stuck off the coast of China in recent months amid a trade dispute. The vessel was eventually able to perform a crew change in Japan on 10 February, following half a year of attempts by MSC to convince chartering parties to find a way to relieve the seafarers at a time when many ports are not allowing sailors to switch on and off ships amid stringent COVID-19 precautionary measures.
After repeated appeals and having exhausted all the possible other options for crew change, MSC recently prioritised Japan as the quickest and most efficient way to provide the necessary relief for the crew and to enable the ship to subsequently continue in service.
Hundreds of thousands of other seafarers are stuck at sea since crew changes were banned by many governments to help curb the spread of COVID-19. While MSC observes and supports COVID-19 health and sanitation requirements wherever it operates, the situation has led to serious consequences for seafarers’ physical and mental well-being, as well as risking serious disruptions to global trade.
MSC continues to monitor the well-being of all the seafarers who have recently disembarked from the ANASTASIA.