Then the Cosco Busan struck the Bay Bridge last November, scores of community and environmental groups rushed to respond to the emergency.
By Paul Duclos
Published: January, 2008
Local shippers, meanwhile, were checking on the condition of their cargo and contacting insurance companies. State and federal law enforcement agencies banded together to determine culpability and the parties that will be brought to justice. But scant attention was paid to the one human factor in this episode: the immediate fate of the ship’s crew.
It seems to take an extraordinary event to bring even the slightest attention on the ordinary seaman, said Dr. Jim Lindgren, executive director of the International Maritime Center (IMC), a charitable and religious nonprofit at the Port of Oakland. Most people don’t realize the incredible hardship these men face day in and day out.
The Busan, like so many other vessels coming through the Golden Gate, was sailing under a flag of convenience, which permits the owners to hire non-union crews from developing countries who are paid lower wages. Shipping industry analysts estimate that two-thirds of today’s commercial fleets are manned by seamen coming from developing nations. According to Lindgren, what little money they manage to save is mostly sent home to help support their families.
This means that the bulk of our work is taking care of the basic needs of seafarers, said Lindgren. When they arrive at our center, they are free to use our phones and Internet to communicate with their loved ones. We also provide a non-threatening place for them to socialize and relax between voyages. Given the fast pace of today’s vessel deployments, that can mean only a day or less.
If there’s more time, we can provide transportation for them to reach local shopping areas, said Lindgren. It’s costly, but a very important part of what we do. Thanks to donations, we also have clothes here for them to take back on board when they leave.
These are the lucky ones, however. Owing to the heightened state of today’s security, those seamen without visas are not even permitted to leave their vessels. That’s when Lindgren and his team go out to the berths at the ports of Oakland and Richmond to bring seamen cell phones for calls to home.
Another part of the IMC’s work is advocacy. It works together with other chaplains and the Center for Seafarers Rights to lobby for positive changes in the law that will affect seafarers. All of the four IMC agencies are members of the North American Maritime Ministry Association, which in turn is a member of the International Christian Maritime Association (ICMA). ICMA is an advisory organization to the United Nations International Maritime Organization and the International Labor Organizations of the U.N.
This grass roots intelligence is very helpful to the ILO and IMO in addressing human rights needs, says Lindgren. We are not about the business of proselytizing but of providing hospitality and advocacy, says Lindgren.
The four agencies that make up the IMC each serve seamen of many nationalities and faiths: One has a full time Catholic chaplain who speaks Vietnamese and Tagalog. Another is connected with the Episcopal Church and manages the Center as well as provides volunteers. Yet another is connected to the Korean Presbyterian Church and headed by a retired Korean Navy Officer and minister who speaks Korean, Chinese and Japanese. The last is connected to the American Baptist Church.
