From: RNZ

The Ministry of Transport has now allocated $295,000 to help those stuck in New Zealand ports through the Mission to Seafarers' organisation. Wellington-based chaplain Reverend Lance Lukin is the Oceania Regional Director for the organisation, he talked to Kim Hill on RNZ's Saturday Morning about the situation.

Lukin says seafarers are one of the most vulnerable and isolated groups in our society.

"There's thousands of ships coming in and out of New Zealand ports a year. There's about 1.5 million seafarers at work at any one time in the world.

"And typically for the lower paid - the able bodied seafarer their contracts are around nine months long. So at the end of that nine months they will be crew changed in and out. So in any month one twelfth of that 1.5 million seafarers are going through crew changes."

Those at sea now don't know when they will be able to get home.

He says the International Transportation Federation has called on all seafarers to go on strike at the end of their contracts if they're not given shore leave and a crew change.

"If that happens, New Zealand's economy stops overnight - 120 billion of export comes by ship, 99 percent of trade comes by ship."

Read the rest of this story and listen to the interview on RNZ’s website