Caring for Seafarers’ Well-Being

Since 1926, when the deep-water port was opened, many Corpus Christi residents have gone to the ships that sailed into our Port and befriended the merchant seafarers. Until 1974, Corpus Christi was the only major port in the country without a seafarers’ center. When the seafarers left their ship to go to town, they were almost always assaulted and robbed of their meager earnings. In 1974, a group of concerned citizens met and chartered an organization, secured a building and opened the Corpus Christi International Seamen’s Center in December 1975.
 
The Seafarers’ Center is a premier home-away-from-home for the thousands of foreign and domestic merchant mariners who visit our port annually. The Center provides transportation from the various docks and terminals in the Inner Harbor, as well as from outlying terminals to the malls for shopping or to the Center, where seafarers can stay in touch with their family and friends via free Wi-Fi. Bibles in many languages are free, and there is a chapel at the Center where the seafarers can sit in quiet thought. We have chaplains who visit every single ship they can to tend to the pastoral needs of those seafarers who cannot leave their ship.
 
The Center exists as the result of a deep desire and concern within the local maritime industry, followed by active support and involvement of the community and local churches, to provide a safe and welcoming recreational and spiritual environment on land for those who have chosen the sea as their livelihood. In providing these services for the many seafarers who come through our doors, or we visit on board ship, we are ensuring their safety of life at sea.
 
In 2020, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) designated June 25^th each year as the International Day of the Seafarer to recognize that 90% of everything we use in our daily lives has been directly or indirectly affected by sea transport operated by merchant mariners.
 
The purpose of the day is to give thanks to seafarers for their contribution to the world economy and civil society, and for the risks and personal costs they bear while on their jobs.  The United Nations has now included the Day of the Seafarer in its list of observances.
 
These men and women are away from home where marriages, births, deaths and other life experiences happen every day in their absence, and who suffer social isolation, threats of piracy, abandonment, unpaid wages, failing to supply food and water, health problems onboard and other similar life-threatening issues, are to be commended for their dedication to their job in the most difficult of circumstances. They are responsible for the safe passage of their ship from Point A to Point B, delivering 90% of the goods we all use every day.   In every port, these goods are transferred to rail lines or trucks for distribution.  Without shipping, rail lines and trucks would suffer, along with all of us.  This sea trade provides work for 1.5 million seafarers. 
 
It is also, however, one of the world’s most dangerous occupations. In 2023, seafarers suffered 2,687 casualties. The rate of suicide for international seafarers is triple that of shore workers, and they are 26 times more likely to suffer a fatal casualty on the job at sea.
 
During the pandemic, seafarers were restricted to their ships, even after their contracts ended. Their country did not want them back in because of COVID, and the relief crew could not board their ship, thereby rendering them without work or pay.  I devised a plan, with assistance from the Texas National Guard and their medics, to conduct on-board vaccinations. To me, the vaccination was the first step in going home.  In one year and one week, we vaccinated 4,897 seafarers on over 650 ships! All at no cost to owners, agents or seafarers.  
 
Shipping is a truly international industry; in today’s global market, you might have a Greek-owned vessel, registered in Malta, with officers from India and a mixed crew from Thailand, Indonesia, Vanuatu and the Philippines.
 
Seafarers’ Centers around the world are these merchant seamen’s only land-based refuge while in port. These seafarers are to be commended for the sacrifices they make, basically for our comfort, and who are totally supported around the world by agencies, like seafarers’ centers, that are dedicated to their well-being. We should all remember that the luxuries we enjoy every day do not come easy for the proud seafarers who bring them to us at a personal sacrifice.
 
Here is a prayer for World Seafarers Day (June 25):

The Seafarers' Center is located at:
1501 Mesquite Street, Corpus Christi, TX 78401 
Phone no. 361-883-8405 
www.corpuschristiseamenscenter.org