Already 2026 will be remembered as the year that seafarers became not only unwitting pawns in the game of geopolitical conflict but downright targets of naked aggression.
The military seizures of tankers linked to Venezuela and of other suspected ‘shadow fleet’ vessels on the high seas began the year on an ominous note. Then the US-Israeli attacks on Iran and that country’s retaliatory strikes sparked much wider jeopardy for shipping around the Strait of Hormuz, later fanning out across the wider Middle East as Houthi rebels restarted attacks on shipping – this time limited to vessels linked to Saudi Arabia.
According to IMO figures updated as of 27 October, over 121 confirmed incidents of attacks on merchant vessels have occurred in the Middle East this year, causing at least 24 seafarer fatalities.
Then there have been the ongoing tit-for-tat Russian and Ukrainian strikes on commercial shipping in the Black Sea region as a result of the ongoing conflict between those two countries. Clarksons reported over 200 incident this year, with an unspecified number of seafarer casualties. In the first three weeks of October alone, as attacks spread to waters off Bulgaria and Romania, ar least eight cargo ships were attacked with some 34 seafarers reported dead or missing.
IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez has been moved to issue a string of public statements, condemning attacks by both sides in these conflicts and pointing out that targeting commercial ships and innocent seafarers doing their jobs can never be justified.
Likewise the IMO chief has hit out at the resurgence of piracy attacks in the Gulf of Aden and the taking of seafarer hostages, some five of whom were killed in crossfire when Somali authorities rescued three ships in early October.
Meanwhile, onboard safety hazards for seafarers also continue at unacceptable levels. The incidence of fires caused by suspected self-ignition of lithium-ion batteries, either within articles packed in containers or installed in vehicles loaded aboard roro ferries or dedicated car/truck carriers, is on the increase (see News Watch article page 15).
Seafarer fatigue remains a besetting problem, with manning levels having been cut to the bone, resulting in only 49% of crew members that completed a recent survey saying there had been enough crew on board during their most recent contract to work safely, without excessive fatigue or breaches of agreed rest hours.
Then there’s also the ongoing scourge of fatalities caused by enclosed space entry aboard ships, with the build-up of toxic fumes responsible for the deaths of not only the unprepared seafarers who unwittingly enter those spaces but also rescuers who go to their aid. Regulatory bodies have issued new safety rules but more still can be done, including enhanced training and widescale fitting of air quality sensors outside enclosed spaces on all types of vessels, not only on tankers, as our Technical section in this issue examines.