Commentary

By Lars Jensen

The old saying “ it takes two to tango ” does not hold up here .

Sixteen maritime organizations have co-signed an open letter to General-Secretary of the United Nations António Guterres highlighting the plight of seafarers detained in relation to the MSC Aries specifically and the safety of seafarers more broadly as they are — quite literally — in the firing line of some of the current ongoing conflicts .

There can be no doubt that unlawful detention of seafarers nor the targeting of merchant vessels with missiles and drones is acceptable .

As was correctly pointed out in the open letter to Guterres , “ Seafarers kept the world fed and warm during the pandemic with vital medicine , food and fuel delivered , irrespective of politics .”

This is equally true outside of the pandemic , with global shipping one of the major driving forces over decades that has boosted global trade and lifted billions out of poverty .

But with all that said , why is there a need for such an open letter ? There are multiple reasons , and a harsh look at the global realities shows that the situation is not necessarily likely to improve anytime soon .

The organizations in their open letter state that , “ seafarers and the maritime sector are neutral and must not be politicized .” That sounds good and is a noble aspiration . But the reality is that shipping has been politicized for centuries . The ability to move cargo to and from countries is a vital part of national security and has time and time again been used as a political tool . It would be good if that was not the case , but it is .

A political pawn

The old saying “ it takes two to tango ” does not hold up here . It only requires the willingness of one party to politicize shipping . Presently , there is clearly a willingness by Iran and the Houthi militants they support to politicize shipping .

Attacking ships with missiles and drones off the coast of Yemen is indeed a dramatic escalation , but detaining merchant vessels is not . And the situation right now is that the Houthi attacks and the seizure of the MSC Aries have further politicized shipping and made it a pawn in the greater power struggle in the Middle East .

Even worse , it has proven to be extremely effective in terms of impact , and despite a military presence in the Red Sea for the past four months , the effectiveness of attacking merchant shipping appears intact . Hence , there is no real incentive by the Houthis and Iran to cease the attacks unless given something in return .

Another statement in the open letter is the following : “ The world would be outraged if four airliners were seized and held hostage with innocent souls on board . Regrettably , there does not seem to be the same response or concern for the four commercial vessels and their crews being held hostage .”

This is likely also true , but this is where perhaps two additional viewpoints need to be taken onboard .

No quick fix

The world seems to have a limited attention span for human suffering and tragedy . This is not a competition in terms of what constitutes the “ worst ” disaster , and it does not diminish the plight of the captive seafarers . But the practical history of focus on human tragedy — or the lack thereof — does not set a hopeful precedent .

The other perspective here is one of visibility . Merchant shipping is often an invisible industry to many people . Intellectually , it is known that goods are moved in ships , but it is an intellectual abstraction and does not evoke the same strong feelings among the wider public — and consequently translates into less political pressure for action — as , say , the hijacking of an aircraft .

None of this is meant to provide any excuses for Houthis shooting at merchant vessels , nor in any way excuse holding seafarers as hostages on vessels . Such actions are abhorrent . But , unfortunately , a realistic view at the intersection of politics and shipping does not point to any kind of speedy resolution of the problems .

If anything , the events over the past five months have shown how effective it is to leverage attacks against shipping to get political attention . The shipping industry needs to use all the means at its disposal to create political pressure to get the situation resolved , but sadly , it is difficult to see a speedy resolution to the current debacle .

email : lars . jensen @ vespucci-maritime . com

68 Journal of Commerce | May 20 , 2024 www . joc . com