Traditionally, Norwegian crews have enjoyed the freedom to leave their ships while docked in ports around the world, including the US. This requires that all their paperwork is in place, of course, but now even that is not enough – at least in the US.
"We feel we are being treated like potential terrorists," Captain Tor Gisle Bjerknes told Norwegian daily newspaper Aftenposten.
Speaking onboard the Odfjell chemical tanker Bow Flora, Bjerknes says that although he has a tourist visa, a seafarer’s visa and his seafarer’s papers in order, it is getting harder and harder to set foot on land in US ports. And he knows what he’s talking about -- he has been sailing in international waters for 32 years.
A number of other seafarers, from captains to machinists, have had similar experiences.
"It doesn’t help if the person is European, a captain, and has had a US visa for years," said Captain Otto Vollan on the Bow Fortune, another ship in the Odfjell fleet.
The new restrictions in the US came after the attack in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
The US and Australia are currently described as the "worst" countries, but other countries appear ready to follow suit. The European Union (EU) commission has reportedly proposed new visa regulations for seafarers in the 15 countries that comprise the "Schengen ring".
It is feared that this will lead to many other countries also introducing stringent regulations on seafarers visiting ports.
"If the Schengen area introduces such a practice, it seems likely there will be a synergy effect on other lands," the Norwegian Sea Officers Association's Bjørn Haave told Aftenposten.
The seafarers say the restrictions violate bilateral shipping agreements and could even cause health problems -- when a seafarer needs to visit a doctor or dentist, for example.
A new ID card is under development to allow seafarers to go on land worldwide without the need for a visa, but after five years of waiting, it remains unclear when the card will come into use.
The US has signalled that it doesn’t want to ratify the ID card, and so far only 13 countries have given it the green light. France is the only Western European country to have said yes to the ID card.
