US maritime union sounds alarm over global shipping standards

A container ship rests against wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge on Wednesday, 27 March 2024. Photograph: Matt Rourke/AP

A top labor union for maritime engineers has sounded the alarm against corporate profiteering in the wake of Tuesday’s cargo ship crash into the Francis Scott Key Bridge, claiming the industry is “probably the worst offender”.

The Marine Engineers’ Beneficial Association (Meba) warned of the dangers of growing vessels and shrinking crews – claiming that those from overseas are “not up to the standards” required in the US.

Roland Rexha, its secretary treasurer, argued that significant safety improvements and standards were required across the global maritime sector following the collapse of the Baltimore bridge earlier this week. Six construction workers were declared to be dead following the disaster, which brought one of America’s busiest ports to a halt.

“These types of issues can be averted when you have a highly trained crew and you have the resources for the crew to be able to operate,” Rexha told the Guardian in an interview. “But these companies, what they do is they’re looking to make as much profit as they can, and they put their workforce in a position to fail on a daily basis.

“Between the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, and what’s happened recently with Boeing. Obviously, we’ve seen corporate greed at its worst and the maritime industry is actually probably the worst offender.”

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is investigating the collision.

Dali, a 948ft (290-meter) cargo ship with a capacity of 10,000 containers, was sailing under the Singapore flag and headed to Sri Lanka with 22 crew members. The ship collided with the bridge less than 30min into its 27-day journey from the Port of Baltimore. The ship had previously been involved in a collision in Antwerp, Belgium, in 2016 and was detained in Chile last year over machinery issues.

Most cargo ships operating in US ports are foreign vessels, with vessels operating under US flags at around 2%.

Other jurisdictions have looser safety standards, inadequate training and weaker licensing and credentialing requirements than the US, according to Rexha. “The vessels are getting larger and larger every year and what’s happened on the foreign side is we’ve seen crew sizes decrease.”

Of Dali’s 22 crew members, he said: “I believe 10 of them are officers. They’re all Indian nationality. I think one there was one electrician that was Sri Lankan. But the standards in India are not up to the standards that we hold the United States, and some of the northern European countries.”

As shipping vessels have grown and crew sizes have been reduced, Rexha claimed that maintenance and upkeep issues are often ignored. A report by the United Nations in 2021 found cargo ship capacity sizes had increased by 155% from 2006 to 2020. Safety incidents of large vessels globally increased 9% in 2022 and 7% in 2021.

Maersk, which chartered the ship, was contacted for comment. In 2023, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Osha) ordered the Danish shipping conglomerate to revise its company policy and cease prohibiting employees from contacting regulators with concerns, after the company was found to retaliate against a worker.