Concern is growing for the welfare of 16 crew members on a fishing vessel left abandoned in Mombasa port in Kenya since March this year.

The hungry and desperate seafarers on board had run out of food, except for some old vegetables, after the vessel owners stopped providing them with supplies last week.

The crew also say that they are owed wages for the last eight months and are increasingly worried about their families back home who are struggling to survive because of the loss of income.

The Kenyan-flagged vessel, Ra-Horakhty, is currently crewed by Indonesians, Koreans, and Vietnamese. Initially, there were Kenyans and Tanzanians on board, but they have since been repatriated and been paid the salaries owed to them.

Stella Maris has stepped in to provide emergency relief for the men, supplying a week’s worth of groceries, including oil, meat and rice. The food was donated by the office of the Archbishop of Mombasa, Bishop Martin Kivuva Musonde.

The seafarers are also in need of fresh water and diesel to run the ship’s generator. 

Stella Maris Mombasa port chaplain Margaret Masibo said, “We were informed of the crew’s dire situation by the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) inspector based here, so went to visit the vessel to assess the situation and see how best we could help. We invited the local Mission to Seafarers team to assist in our response.”

“We had a long conversation with the captain of the ship who said he and his crew were distressed, frustrated, hungry and exhausted,” she said.

Stella Maris understands that the men all signed one-year contracts. The contracts of six Indonesian fishermen expired five months ago but they are still on board. The men are unable to leave the port area because their documents are no longer valid.

This case illustrates a wider problem of seafarer and fisher abandonment. According to the International Labour Organization’s Abandonment of Seafarers database, 57 ships have been reported abandoned since the start of this year.

Stella Maris is often the first responder in these cases, supporting the seafarers and fishers but also their families back home who have been without income for months.

“The seafarers on board the Ra-Horakhty were extremely thankful for the support we provided them,” said Margaret. “They are however distressed, frustrated and uncertain of the future, and in need of accompaniment, counselling and assurance,” she added.

The crew, led by the captain, has begun to seek legal redress.

“The situation is becoming increasingly hopeless, and no one knows how long a court case will take, but Stella Maris will keep looking out for the crew’s wellbeing and monitoring the situation,” said Margaret.

* For further details and to find out how you can help please contact;

Margaret Masibo in Kenya at +254 (0) 721600664/[email protected] or
Jonathan Heard in the UK at +44 (0) 207 9011931/[email protected]

Stella Maris – Life at Sea Report shows seafarers’ need for human contact.

Global maritime charity Stella Maris is highlighting the vital need for personal, human contact for seafarers in a world operating amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Our latest Life at Sea Report observes that, in a maritime world of increased digitalisation and automation, smaller crews and faster port turnaround times, the need for basic human contact remains paramount,” says Stella Maris CEO Martin Foley.

“In the face of the world’s collective failure to provide timely repatriation for seafarers, and the continued absence of a global vaccination or keyworker policy for seafarers, hundreds of thousands of seafarers remain in need of many kinds of support,” he adds.

Life at Sea: a world in lockdown examines the response by Stella Maris to many of the enduring crises faced by seafarers and shows how the charity has adapted its services during the pandemic to ensure that seafarers continue to be supported.

Case studies included in the report cover the growing pace of abandonment of ships; continued human rights abuses and modern slavery; death and increasing cases of suicide at sea; contractual issues of wages, shore leave and repatriation; piracy; and the impact of all these issues, allied to the added privations, pressures and challenges of the pandemic, upon the worsening mental health of many seafarers. 

The strength of the Stella Maris global network of 1,000 chaplains and volunteers in 334 ports across 60 countries gives it an unparalleled ability to provide continuous care to those who need it. 

“We cannot do it alone,” says Ian Stokes, the charity’s Head of Corporate Engagement and Partnerships. “The increasing contributions by, and partnerships with, industry, allied to the steadfast donations of individual supporters and the strategic support of several trusts and foundations, have enabled Stella Maris, in its centenary year, to maintain and increase its crucial service to the people of the sea.”

The report is now available free here.

The Vatican has urged governments, ship owners and international organisations to ensure that seafarers’ wellbeing and safety are protected, and their human rights respected.

In a message for Sea Sunday on 11th July, the Vatican said seafarers are a vital part of the world’s economy, who continued doing their essential work throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, delivering cargo as well as critical medical equipment and medicines to support the fight against the spread of the virus.

Yet despite a global drive to classify seafarers as ‘key workers’, not all countries had taken steps to recognise them as such, nor had they implemented a clear policy to vaccinate seafarers.

One on hand, the Vatican said, the maritime industry was highly globalised but, on the other, seafarers’ rights and protection were fragmented between several players who were often not accountable to any higher regulation or authority.

It was estimated that in September 2020, some 400,000 seafarers were stuck at sea, because travel restrictions due to Covid-19 prevented them from being repatriated, which resulted in the crew change crisis.

The numbers of seafarers stranded at sea have reduced by half now, but those still unable to return home and being asked to work beyond their contracts continue to experience enormous physical and psychological stress.

“We would like to invite the maritime industry to learn to act as one by facilitating crew changes and vaccinations and strengthening the implementation of international standards to enhance and protect the human and working rights of the People of the Sea,” said Cardinal Peter K. A. Turkson, head of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

He appealed to ships owners, management companies, agents and recruiters to regard crew members as more than a “labour force” and called for the development of working practices based on human dignity “to improve the mental, physical and spiritual wellbeing of seafarers”.

Cardinal Turkson said that seafarers’ lives and safety were also being put at risk by pirate attacks and the increase in violence against crew, especially in the Gulf of Guinea.

He called on governments and international organisations to determine long-lasting solutions to the scourge of piracy. “Ship owners should adopt all requisite preventative measures to ensure the safety not only of ships and their cargo, but especially that of seafarers,” he said.

On the issue of seafarer abandonment, the Vatican said it was crucial that countries enforced in full the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC 2006), which entered into force in 2017.

Abandoned seafarers, deprived of their wages and necessities, faced inhumane conditions and their families suffered devastating financial consequences.

The Vatican said figures from The International Transport Worker’s Federation, show that the numbers of ships abandoned doubled from 40 in 2019, to 85 in 2020.

New obligations under MLC 2006 require shipowners to have compulsory insurance to cover abandonment of seafarers, as well as claims for death or long-term disability.

The Vatican said throughout the pandemic, global seafarers’ charity Stella Maris (formerly known as Apostleship of the Sea), with its worldwide network of chaplains and ship-visiting volunteers had always been and continued to be at the service of seafarers and fishers.

“They are present in their lives, constantly adapt their ministry to changing circumstances and address seafarers’ spiritual and material needs,” said Cardinal Turkson.

* You can find the Vatican Sea Sunday Message plus more resources for Sea Sunday, including an audio and video appeal talk by our Bishop Promoters and Sea Sunday Prayer at https://www.stellamaris.org.uk/seasunday/

* Our Plymouth & Teignmouth regional port chaplain speaks to Radio Maria England about her work with seafarers and Sea Sunday. Click to listen. https://anchor.fm/radio-maria-england/embed/episodes/Morning-Show—2021-07-08-e144ejn/a-a63adhu

* Listen to Our Immingham Regional Port Chaplain Steve Willows’ Pause For Thought sharing on BBC Radio Humberside on Sea Sunday.

* Our CEO Martin Foley spoke to Vatican News about Sea Sunday and our work with seafarers during the pandemic and in India. Click here for to read and listen to the interview. Separately, Fr Bruno Ciceri, Stella Maris’ International Director tells Vatican News why it’s important to remember the vital work seafarers do. Go here for more.