Seafarers stuck at sea receive some Christmas cheer

As a marine surveyor, Sliema resident Ursula Smith usually spends about five days at sea on her work trips.

But in a recent expedition, she was trapped for more than three months on board, partly in quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I just got stuck,” she says. “This gave me a true understanding of onboard life during the pandemic. “

The experience inspired her to spearhead a Christmas campaign to help bring some festive cheer to those stranded at sea over the festive period.

[attach id=1005980 size="medium" align="right" type="image"]A seafarer with one of the Christmas boxes delivered to ships docked in Malta over the festive period.[/attach]

The International Chamber of Shipping estimates that about 300,000 people are stranded on their vessels due to the pandemic with 90 per cent of global trade now happening by sea.

“There are many seafarers who have been stuck away from home for months, some since the beginning of the crisis, who have been working day after day onboard and, in most cases, with no chance of even a day of leave ashore,” Ursula, a church warden at Holy Trinity, Sliema, says.

“We cannot, of course, get these seafarers home to their families for the...