Invisible Labour: The Strategic Importance of Seaborne Shipping
- When policymakers discuss the issue of maritime security, the concept of supply-chain resilience, or the future of global trade, the discussion is nearly always about vessels and ports,...
- According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Progress (UNCTAD),approximately 80-90 percent of all global trade in tonnes is transported by sea,and it is estimated that the...
- However, in spite of this centrality, the maritime policy debate has a tendency to consider labor as a background variable, but not a pillar of strategy.
Authors: Amina munir and Amna Hashmi
When policymakers discuss the issue of maritime security, the concept of supply-chain resilience, or the future of global trade, the discussion is nearly always about vessels and ports, chokepoints, and technology. Not so apparent but no less fundamental is the human labor that keeps this great maritime system at work. Seaborne labor is one of the moast crucial but under-investigated aspects of maritime relations, despite the fact that its role in the economic balance, sustainability, and regulation of crises is becoming all the more significant.
Seaborne Labor as the Key to the Global Economy
According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Progress (UNCTAD),approximately 80-90 percent of all global trade in tonnes is transported by sea,and it is estimated that the amount of cargo shipped is more than 10.6 billion tonnes annually.The whole mechanism is based on an approximated 1.8-2 million merchant seafarers who work in the world shipping systems in container, bulk, tanker, and specialized ships (UNCTAD Review of Maritime Transport). practically, transporting food and other vital goods occupies over 70 percent of the total volume of food and other important goods in the world, rendering seafarers vital in food supply to all parts of the world as well as daily consumption (International Chamber of shipping).
However, in spite of this centrality, the maritime policy debate has a tendency to consider labor as a background variable, but not a pillar of strategy. The implicit assumption on which trade resilience, naval logistics, and port efficiency are constructed is that there is a continuous supply of skilled seafarers, an assumption that is at best seldom questioned until it is disrupted.
An At-Risk and Unstable Workforce
It has been empirically demonstrated that the seafaring occupation is one of the most hazardous in the world. another historic occupational health study in Denmark had revealed that occupational accidental mortality among seafarers was over eleven times greater than among working-age men on shore, highlighting the high physical hazards of sea work (International Labour Association). The working hours and exhaustion, contact with hazardous machinery, and environmental risks are not going to disappear in the shipboard life, even in the conditions of the regulation system of the Maritime Labour convention (MLC 2006).
These vulnerabilities are even exacerbated in global shipping by cost-minimization strategies. Recent qualitative studies show the direct impact of precarious work relations on nutrition, quality of food, and well-being on board ships, even tho the seafarers are the ones who keep the global supply chains going (Baum-Talmor et al., 2024). These circumstances demonstrate a sharp paradox: the labor that nourishes the world can be at risk of working in the conditions that undermine its health and safety, on the other hand.
The Politics of Invisibility of COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown how seaborne labor is still politically invisible. When the crisis was at its peak, approximately 1.9 million seafarers were caught in interrupted crew changes, meaning