Maritime news . Week 36
US visa crackdown creates turmoil for shipmanagers
Shipmanagers are warning of mounting operational chaos as fresh US visa restrictions begin to bite, Splash has learned.
Multiple sources at leading shipmanagement companies confirm growing problems with obtaining valid US visas for crewmembers. The issues stem from a raft of executive orders signed by the current US president, which have shifted the long-established practice of multiple-entry seafarer visas toward single-entry permits.
Under the new system, seafarers must be repatriated after their first US port call and replaced until they can obtain another visa.
Starlink Maritime slashes unlimited data plan price by 90%
Starlink Maritime has slashed the cost of its unlimited data package for IMO-registered vessels from $25,000 per month to just $2,500 – a 90% reduction – with distributors throwing in free high-performance hardware.
The Mobile Priority Unlimited package, which had been launched in early 2024, is now being pitched squarely at the commercial shipping sector. Elcome, Marlink, Tototheo and Clarus are among the authorised distributors already marketing the new pricing, which also comes with a 99.9% uptime service-level agreement.
Austrian oil company to slash 2,000 jobs worldwide
Austrian oil and gas player OMV is planning to cut around 2,000 worldwide staff, local media reported.
OMV is looking to cut 2,000 of its 23,000 worldwide staff, with OMV Petrom, the company’s Romanian subsidiary, taking the hardest hit.
Cuts are also planned at its refinery in southern Germany and Slovakia. In Austria, around 400 of the 5,400 workers will be cut. The reports claimed that the company will be making the cuts as “socially aware as possible”.
Toxic resilience is a threat to maritime
Few industries test resilience as relentlessly as maritime. Crewmembers are often expected to endure immense workloads, separation from loved ones, and adversity without complaint or visible weakness. During a crisis, wherever it happens around the world, seafarers in particular pay an extraordinary personal price to keep global trade afloat.
Yet while physical injuries are plain to see, mental health struggles are easier to dismiss – and just as destructive. Burnout and depression must not become normalised as the “inevitable” cost of life at sea.
This must change.