Finally, home.

230 Filipino seafarers arrived today, June 12, 2020 (Philippine Independence Day) at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport aboard the chartered flight from Hamburg via Condor Air. The flight was chartered by Peter Döhle Group in Hamburg coordinating closely with Döhle Seafront in Manila.

The flight itself only has 15 crew under Döhle Seafront, the rest are seafarers from other agencies who were stranded in Europe, affected by two months of lockdown.

Shipowners have been requesting the government to allow ease of movement for seafarers to go in and out of the country because it is important for cargo movement all over the world. Filipinos make up 600,000 crew, more than half of the global fleet; and 90% of economy movement globally is via ships. Filipino seafarers contribute 6 billion dollars annually through their remittances to the Philippines.

This highlights the importance of their coming back and joining their vessels, going in and out the country.

Peter Döhle Group, including Döhle Seafront Crewing Manila, are among the first stakeholders who initiated to have those stranded crew abroad come home and are now asking to fly out much needed crew support to the idle vessels internationally lacking of seafarers.