\u201cFor 2023 I sailed between Russian and Ukrainian and Turkey and Greek and all over the [Mediterranean]. We had inspections [by Russians and Ukrainians] and all was good. But we now see changes, even our Indians [sailors] won\u2019t make the trips.\u201d<\/p>\n
I asked prominent Greek maritime agency Samios if recent Ukrainian attacks had had any effect on business.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot as much as Hormuz,\u201d came the reply.<\/p>\n
Hormuz Hurt<\/p>\n
He was very quiet, polite, and almost apologetic. Michalis introduced him as \u201cthe best engine man I ever know.\u201d Simon, born in Goa but raised in Mumbai, looked in his mid-60s, but he was younger than me, by a decade. He has a wife and five kids at home and told me he had been to Dublin and Knock. Knock, dear reader, is the location of a Marian shrine in the west of Ireland and pilgrimage hub.<\/p>\n
\u201cI finished my contract with [an agency] and was to pick [up] a new ship, with Michalis, to sail back and to Dubai and on to my home. The agency say to wait,\u201d he said while sipping a rather strong cappuccino.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not an unusual thing for a maritimer to be \u2018between ships\u2019, though Simon has been stuck in Greece for five weeks and the agency, in Jeddah, are being awkward.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf he flies home, he\u2019ll have to pay himself to fly to wherever his next ship is,\u201d Michalis, who has given Simon his spare room, explains. \u201cHe\u2019s not the only one from India stuck here, right?\u201d<\/p>\n
Simon nodded and told me of less fortunate individuals who are struggling. The Indian Embassy in Athens has had maritimers contact them, according to one diplomat speaking in a non-official capacity, the situation surrounding Hormuz following the US and Israeli attacks on Iran have \u201cseen an increase in citizens contacting the mission.\u201d The person clarified that these citizens are from \u201cshipping and many sailors.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Outdoor accommodation\u2019<\/p>\n
I asked Simon about a phenomenon I noticed on the coast road out from Piraeus. In the morning and evening, I\u2019d noticed men of Indian-origin sitting on the rocks next to the sea. They seemed to arrive after sunset and leave soon after sunrise.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was worse [earlier in the summer]. Many of them have gotten ships or left,\u201d he said. I asked were they homeless. \u201cNo, yes. Yes. Some men were in hotels for a week, or two, then agencies stopped paying [as contracts had finished] and they found outdoor accommodation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is what we call it,\u201d Michalis added, \u201cand we [Greek merchant mariners] try to help.\u201d<\/p>\n
I asked how and how many Indians are in \u201coutdoor accommodation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just check in on them, and some cafes give free meals,\u201d he explained, including the place we were having coffee in. \u201cIt\u2019s the least we can do and numbers, less, like Simon said. I\u2019d say\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA dozen,\u201d Simon finishes his sentence.<\/p>\n
I approached one man I\u2019d noticed a couple of evenings down on the rocks near the Peiraik\u0113 bus stop. He was reluctant to talk, until I brought up Simon\u2019s name. He smiled and said he was ashamed to be stuck in Greece and that during the day he walked or got food from Simon and Michalis.<\/p>\n
He has been stranded since June and that he hopes to leave soon. Sleeping outdoors was \u201cpleasant\u201d but he has told his family that he is still in a hotel. He didn\u2019t want to give me more than that and I respected his privacy.<\/p>\n
At a local kiosk, Said from Iraq told me that his boss, a former mariner, gives \u201cthe Indian sailor\u201d free bottles of water. He also revealed that there are more in the city of Piraeus and \u201cprobably lots more in other port cities and Athens.\u201d<\/p>\n
When I mentioned this to the diplomat, he said that pride, shame, \u201cor a mixture of all kinds of personality\u201d prevents many from reaching out.<\/p>\n
\u2018We live in hope\u2019<\/p>\n
Michalis, as we parted, said that the recent Ukrainian attacks on shipping probably won\u2019t escalate, but the \u201cmess in the [Persian] Gulf means we live in hope that this can be fixed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some fans linked to Olympiacos FC in Piraeus, who work or worked in shipping, have also lent a hand to stranded sailors. There are also local churches helping out. They have to as there is a gray area that many men have fallen into. They are officially \u201cbetween contracts,\u201d as Michalis told me, and agencies or companies have no obligation.<\/p>\n
In sensible times, mariners benefited from being able to sign off from one ship and up to another. As a former colleague from Croatia, who sailed for 30 years, told me back in 2010, \u201cyou come into port, your contract is almost up and then a few beers later and you\u2019ve an offer to fly to Hong Kong to pick up a new ride and you earn yourself enough to build another [house] floor.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, in 2026, this is no longer the case and the evidence is in the number of adult men, professional sailors from ratings to officers availing of \u201coutdoor accommodation\u201d by the Aegean Sea. The barely visible victims of Zelensky, Trump and Netanyahu will continue to wait for their boats to come in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cFor 2023 I sailed between Russian and Ukrainian and Turkey and Greek and all over the [Mediterranean]. We…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":264406,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[26],"tags":[3459,72683,3320,518,3910,14124,57741,72686,39,72687,4135,4051,20714,72684,72685],"class_list":["post-264405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-persian-gulf","tag-global-trade","tag-greece-ports","tag-greek-shipping","tag-hormuz-tensions","tag-indian-sailors","tag-maritime-workers","tag-merchant-navy","tag-outdoor-accommodation","tag-persian-gulf","tag-piraeus-sailors","tag-seafarers-rights","tag-shipping-crisis","tag-shipping-sanctions","tag-stranded-crew","tag-ukrainian-attacks"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117157331214349096","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264405\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}