Mariners, Too

The maritime sector reckons with sexual harassment.

By Pamela Glass, Washington Correspondent

Vessel companies and the federal academy that trains mariners for the industry are facing new requirements to address sexual harassment and assault, as more victims come forward with harrowing allegations of abuse by superiors.

Sexual misconduct has long been under-reported amid the hushed undercurrent of the maritime industry. But with incidents becoming more frequent as more women enter the industry, and more victims willing to talk publicly, the problem is gaining national attention and has spawned new rules and a period of reckoning in the industry.

Sexual assault and harassment, known as SASH, and what to do about it, is now a frequent discussion topic at major shipping conferences, maritime schools, the Seamen’s Church Institute, and in Congress, the media, company boardrooms and vessel wheelhouses.

Many are calling it the maritime industry’s “MeToo” movement

“In recent years, many sectors, institutions and communities in America have been reckoning with the harms of sexual assault and harassment,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttegieg told graduates of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) last June. “Now is the time, long past time indeed, when we must confront the unique challenges around sexual assault and harassment present across the maritime sector and impacting students at this academy.”

Meanwhile, some in the maritime industry worry that the new rules will create a climate for false accusations, while also scaring away potential recruits at a time when companies face a widespread and persistent labor shortage and pressure to create a more diverse and inclusive workforce.

SASH in the maritime sector exploded nationally in 2021 when a 19-year-old engineering cadet at USMMA anony- mously alleged that she was repeatedly harassed and eventually raped by her superior while on the U.S.- agged Maersk Line Ltd. (MLL) ship Alliance Fairfax in 2019 during the Sea Year training program, a graduation requirement.

Sea Year training typically consists of a sailing period during a cadet’s sophomore year and a longer sailing period during a cadet’s junior year, and enables cadets to obtain the training days at sea necessary to become eligible for a Coast Guard merchant of cer license examination.

Published on the website of Maritime Legal Aid & Advocacy Ltd., a non-pro t law rm, the account detailed the attack, its aftermath and discussed the larger problem of SASH in the industry and at the academy. Known as “Midshipman X,” Hope Hicks, the former USMMA cadet, later agreed to go public, take her allegations to the Coast Guard, and share the experience with

Congress and with CNN. She has since graduated and is an of cer in the Navy.

Her account led to the USMAA suspending the Sea Year program, and prompted many other victims to come forward, lling Legal Aid’s website with dozens of abuse stories from women working on merchant vessels as well as female cadets from USMMA and state academies who say they have experienced abuse on campus and during their at-sea training programs. The academies and many vessel companies have since adopted stricter policies of zero-tolerance for sexual misconduct and on responding to SASH incidents.

New Oversight Rules

Congress passed new rules in December to improve oversight and investigations in the maritime industry and within the Coast Guard. Provisions in the scal 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, signed into law in December, will: