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UK offers free Wi-Fi routers for ships stranded by coronavirus pandemic

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said 'it's only right we care for sailors stranded in our ports' - Jeff Overs/Reuters
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said 'it's only right we care for sailors stranded in our ports' - Jeff Overs/Reuters
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Coronavirus bar portal embed V2

Merchant ships stranded in British ports due to the coronavirus pandemic are to be given free mobile Wi-Fi routers so sailors can stay in touch with their families, Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, has said.

It comes as the UK leads efforts to secure an international agreement recognising seafarers as key workers.

The Department for Transport said around 200,000 sailors, including 2,000 British citizens, are currently stranded abroad abroad due to international coronavirus travel and quarantine restrictions.

Ministers said the problem had been exacerbated as ships have been barred from returning home due to the pandemic, meaning many mariners' contracts had expired while they were still at sea, requiring them to make their own way home.

In response, the Government on Thursday announced a package of measures to aid sailors whose ships are stuck in UK ports, including providing them with mobile Wi-Fi units (Mi-Fi) and giving funding to seafarers' centres where international crew can take a break from life onboard.

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Also on Thursday, the UK also hosted a global summit on how Covid-19 has impacted merchant sailors, at which it was agreed to have them recognised as key workers by the UN.

Although not a legal status, the recognition will give sailors more recourse to negotiate exemptions from travel restrictions.

Foreign sailors are currently exempt from UK quarantine restrictions, and the Government has already helped repatriate 12,500 stranded on the UK's shores.

Writing for The Telegraph, Mr Shapps said the Mi-Fi units were a "small gesture" to sailors in recognition of the role they had played delivering vital food and medicine to the UK throughout the virus pandemic.

He said: "This great island nation of ours has a proud history of driving progress in the maritime realm. Our seafarers have journeyed to every corner of the world, and we have welcomed those who cross the oceans to visit us here, bringing with them the fruits of far-flung places.

"It is only right that we care for them when they have, through no fault of their own, found themselves becalmed and stranded in our ports."