My book, Pedro’s Delivery, set for publication by Pink Umbrella Books of San Clemente, CA, in July, tells the story of a Filipino seafarer who escorts bags of cocoa beans from the Ivory Coast in West Africa to the Port of Philadelphia in the U.S.

The book puts a face for young readers on those who sacrifice to bring commodities that eventually land on our store shelves. Who doesn’t enjoy candy or a mug of hot chocolate on a cold winter’s day? A work of fiction, the story is based on my 10 years of experience relating to seafarers from myriad backgrounds while working as a volunteer shipboard visitor, furnishing hospitality to crewmembers on behalf of Seamen’s Church Institute of Philadelphia and South Jersey. 

Seafarers endure weather hardships and long periods of time away from home as linchpins in global trade exchanges that improve our lives. They visit some 360 ports in the U.S. alone along three coasts, the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes. Some 1.9 million seafarers serve on cargo ships globally.

Nowhere are the challenges facing cargo ship crews more evident these days than those aboard ships near Iran’s Strait of Hormuz. Normally 100 ships or more pass through the Strait daily bearing cargos like petroleum, coal, grains and fertilizer. In the current spring planting season, farmers depend on affordable fertilizer, much of which traverses the Strait, to generate the crops they raise. The current state of the Strait, however, is that traffic is severely restricted, according to news reports. And the degree of restriction is a day-to-day issue as Iran uses the closure as a bargaining tool to negotiate an end to the war. The Strait’s restrictions have upended much of the world’s economy.

As many as 2,000 cargo ships bearing 20,000 seafarers were recently “stuck” near the Strait. Recent reports, during a cease fire, indicated conditions were somewhat calmer for crews than was the case at the recent height of the conflict when seafarers could view overhead drones and hear the impact of heavy bombing, depending on their location. During the best days of the ceasefire open airports made it easier to transfer crew members as contracts for their work begin or end. Resumption of some hostilities have threatened to disrupt the state of relative calm for seafarers. A cargo tanker, reportedly carrying oil from Iran and allegedly struck from the air by U.S. forces, took the lives of three seafarers from India in June, according to a New York Times report. They were the first seafarer casualties from the war.

Provisions aboard ship last four to six weeks. Delivering needed goods, however, is more costly to ships at anchor than when a ship is at berth in a port, according to Jason Zuidema, the chief executive for the North American Maritime Ministry Association (NAMMA), who is among many tracking the war’s impact on seafarers. Such costs will likely sooner or later impact consumer pocketbooks, he suspects. 

Medical emergencies are always a challenge when ships are at sea. For vessels stranded near the Strait such emergencies are much harder to deal with than when a ship is in port.

Large shipping concerns are doing what they can to support their seafarer employees, according to reports. Technology aboard ships makes it easier for crewmembers to be in touch with loved ones. Some concerns offer hardship pay in the face of crews’ uncertain predicaments. But, those amenities do not ease the stress of wondering whether seafarers could soon once more be witnesses to wartime hostilities that could place them in peril.