World Maritime Day, celebrated this year on September 30th, is an annual observance created by the United Nations to recognize the maritime industry’s contribution to the global economy. The International Maritime Organization chose “seafarers at the core of shipping’s future” as the theme to celebrate this year’s special day. And rightly so, as approximately 90% of global trade is carried on ships. As IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim succinctly put it, “Shipping drives world trade and that trade simply does not happen without seafarers.”
Around the world, there are over 1.6 million seafarers manning approximately 50,000 merchant ships that transport so many things we depend on in our daily lives, including medical supplies, personal protective equipment, consumer goods, and nearly everything else used in modern society.
The media regularly reminds us of this fact with urgent reports of major supply chain issues, accompanied by headlines such as “Los Angeles Port Logjam Has Enough Containers to Cross Half the U.S.” And, let’s not forget the recent travails of the Ever Given being stuck in the Suez Canal for 106 days that disrupted global trade.
Since the start of the pandemic, hundreds of thousands of seafarers—working hard to make sure that the items we all rely upon get delivered—have been stuck at sea for extended periods of time. So, let’s all take a moment to honor our seafarers, and treat them with the respect they deserve as the totally essential workers that they truly are. Thank you!
Since 1935, MOPS has protected the licenses and livelihoods of more than 80,000 deck and engineering officers, state and federal pilots and certified tankermen.
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