Indonesian Sailors Unable to Return Home for Over a Year Points to Larger Issue During COVID
105 Indonesian sailors returned home by plane after close to half a year of being stranded at sea on August 21st. The sailors were unable to enter Taiwan because of border restrictions that prevent merchant vessels registered to a different country from docking in Taiwan, only allowing ships owned by Taiwanese nationals and registered to Taiwan to dock. Likewise, maritime conventions dictate that it is the responsibility of the owner of a vessel, the nation to which the vessel is registered, and the nation to which the sailors come from to provide for repatriations...