PIRAEUS, Greece, March 5 (Reuters) – Greek seafarers began a 24-hour strike on Thursday, halting local ferry services, as they protested over vessel crews stranded in the Gulf amid the escalating Middle East war, and demanded the area is declared a war risk zone to enable their repatriation.
The Iran conflict threatens Gulf ports and has already disrupted global trade through the Strait of Hormuz, a key artery accounting for about 20% of global oil and gas supply. Although the Strait is not shut, Iran has warned that it will fire on any ship trying to pass through.
Greece is a dominant force in global shipping, controlling one of the world’s largest merchant fleets. More than 325 ships of Greek interests, their crews including dozens of Greek seafarers, are in the wider Gulf area.
“We demand that all of our colleagues, currently in the dangerous Gulf area, the Gulf of Oman and the Red Sea, are evacuated and safely repatriated,” said Angelos Galanopoulos, head of Greece’s lower engine crews’ union Stephenson.
Dozens of protesters rallied outside the shipowners union near the port of Piraeus and spray-painted: “No sacrifice for profits and wars” on the ground. A motorcycle convoy drove to the shipping ministry.
The International Maritime Organization says it is concerned for about roughly 20,000 seafarers in the region. At least nine ships have been damaged in strikes since the conflict began on Saturday.
Seafarers usually have the contractual right to refuse to sail in designated war zones and demand repatriation at the shipowner’s expense.
Dozens of ships remained at anchor in open waters off the coast of major Gulf producers and dozens of oil tankers were inside the Strait, ship tracking data showed.
Risks include not only attacks but also potential food and supply shortages said Apostolis Kypraios, head of the marine engineers’ union PEMEN.
“The government and shipownwers are responsible for the people trapped in war areas,” Kypraios said.
“We demand that they find a solution for our colleagues to return home. Their families are worried and seafarers don’t know if they will return alive, if they will be injured.”
(Reporting by Renee Maltezou, Vania Turner in Athens and Jonathan Saul in London; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
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