On 24th February last, Yuri, Petro and Oleksander were\nat sea. At their posts aboard their respective Marfret vessels, the seamen were\nstunned to learn of the Russian attack on their homeland, Ukraine. Incredulity\ngave way to anguish and distress: return home by whatever means to protect\ntheir families and country, or continue to work to provide for their loved ones?\nThese mixed emotions created confusion and uncertainty, they felt they were\nprisoners, there was a sense of guilt. This fragile mental state is the\nopposite of what is needed for their job as seamen, which requires\nconcentration and a cool head to make the right decisions for the vessel\u2019s safe\nrunning. It was a potentially dangerous state of affairs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While Ukrainian and Russian seamen work side by side as colleagues aboard ships, their countrymen on shore have for the past month been engaged in a merciless, fratricidal war. Ukrainians represent 38% of Marfret\u2019s crew numbers, essentially in engine room positions as engineers, chief engineers, motormen or fitters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Indeed, the Odesa Maritime Academy, recognized for the\nhigh quality of teaching, trains many engineering officers. Marseille, which is\nhome to Marfret, is twinned with Odesa, with Marfret having employed Ukrainian\nseamen to oversee the running of its ships\u2019 engines for the past 20 years or so.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ukraine has 76,442 registered seamen (4% of the world\ntotal), including 47,058 officers and 29,383 ordinary seamen. Together with\ntheir Russian counterparts, they alone make up 14.5% of the world\u2019s merchant\nmarine crews. Everybody remembers the prestigious Soviet-era Black Sea Shipping\nCompany, based in Kiev until its demise in the 90\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, more than ever, Marfret stands by its Ukrainian\ncrews and their families. I know some of them personally, having worked\nalongside them. We need to find the best way to organize crew changes from\nPoland and Romania in order to protect our Ukrainian crews\u2019 jobs. We have many\ndifficulties to overcome, both on the human and administrative levels, for\nexample certifications not being renewed and visa problems. We have arranged\naccommodation in Romania to provide safe shelter for our Ukrainian crews\u2019\nfamilies. Marfret is fully behind its Ukrainian crew members and have even\nadopted the country\u2019s colours to show our solidarity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guillaume Vidil<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On 24th February last, Yuri, Petro and Oleksander were at sea. At their posts aboard their respective Marfret vessels, the seamen were stunned to learn of the Russian attack on their homeland, Ukraine. Incredulity gave way to anguish and distress: return home by whatever means to protect their families and country, or continue to work […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":6015,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[314,37,258],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-highlighted","category-news","category-news-nl-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n