COVID-19 at sea: ‘the world as you know it no longer exists’

ABSTRACT

The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic has impacted virtually everyone on the planet. But the impacts have been diverse and uneven. In this article, I reflect on the plight of seafarers during the pandemic. I suggest that being ‘locked in’ is intrinsic to life at sea, as one can’t simply leave a ship. What makes the experience of the pandemic so challenging at sea is being ‘locked out’ of land. With border closures prohibiting ‘crew change’, many seafarers have been forced to extend their contracts, stay aboard, and postpone going home for long and often undefined periods of time. My article combines a reflexive personal narrative of being confined to a ship at sea for five months, while being excluded from land, with the question of how spending the pandemic at sea could be understood in relation to maritime labour.

KEYWORDS:

• Shipping
• sailing
• cargo
• lockdown
• pandemic
• labour

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Ted Striphas and John Erni for editing this special issue on the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as their constructive comments that have helped to improve my argument. I would also like to thank all participants of the (virtual) COVID-19 and Theory seminar on 5th August 2020, organized by the English and Theatre Studies program at the University of Melbourne; with special thanks to speakers Justin Clemens and Joe Hughes, and convener Sarah Balkin. Many thanks to Robbie Fordyce for helpful conversations on the topic.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Further information

This Special Issue article has been comprehensively reviewed by the Special Issue editors, Associate Professor Ted Striphas and Professor John Nguyet Erni.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Christiaan De Beukelaer

Christiaan De Beukelaer is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Melbourne. His research explores two distinct topics: the revival or sailing vessels as a means of zero-emission cargo transport and the role of UNESCO in global cultural policy-making processes. In 2020, he spent five months aboard the sailing ship Avontuur, which he was not allowed to disembark due to COVID-19 border restrictions. His books include Global Cultural Economy and Cultural Policies for Sustainable Development.