Trauma from Red Sea attacks adds to seafarer shortage

When a missile fired by Yemen's Houthi Islamists landed near his ship in the Red Sea, Costas Rassias vowed to stop sailing through the perilous waters.

"I froze," said the Greek 34-year-old second class marine engineer, describing the close call. "I weighed what was more important - my life, or a better income?"

As attacks on merchant ships by the Iran-backed Houthis persist, traumatized seafarers are refusing to sail through the Red Sea, according to interviews with more than 15 crew members and shipping industry officials.

That's another staffing headache for an industry already facing a shortage of seafarers worldwide, with ranks having shrunk after Covid kept seafarers on board for months and the war in Ukraine posed dangers in the Black Sea.

"Seafarers are less and less keen to willingly sail through that region and it is becoming a bigger challenge...