The plight of the crew working on Russian owned yachts has been prominent in the superyacht industry’s mind as the Ukraine Crisis unfolds. The impacts of sanctions and the act of freezing a yacht will undoubtedly have drastic impacts on the crew onboard and their welfare. Recruitment agents have started disassociating themselves from Russian owned vessels, including most recently Saltwater Recruitment, via social media on the 9 March, with Monique Dykstra stating:

“We have suspended our recruitment services to any Russian-owned vessels that could potentially be linked to the Russian Government and the crisis in Ukraine during this time. This week we are making further announcements as we want these messages to echo loudly through our industry with hopes this may inspire other recruitment agencies and companies to take a similar course of action and to use their voice. We feel it is our moral obligation to stand with Ukraine and provide any support we can."

SuperyachtNews will continue to support and platform industry stakeholders in communicating their stance as the situation develops. Speaking with other larger recruitment agents off the record, there appears to be a similar sentiment and stance starting to be being adopted across a wider spread of the recruitment sector behind the scenes. Superyacht recruiters are in a challenging situation. Moral stances aside, there is the financial and legal implications at play also. 

Recruiters, like many suppliers, are potentially affected by the sanctions in Europe, the EU, the USA and the UK. The inability to financially interact with the vessel without breaching these sanctions is a significant factor. Recruiters have an additional level of financial exposure to consider also, pertaining to the MLC MGN 478 which may leave the company that places a crew member liable to cover their wages in the event of the yacht being unable to pay. 

With unconfirmed reports of significant numbers of crew being dismissed from serval high profile vessels, with various levels of wages owed, this has been a significant talking point in recent Q&A sessions held by the PYC, and Nautilis respectively. The results of the former have been covered by SuperyachtNews here, with the latter to come via Nautilis International. 

As mentioned by Saltwater Recruitment, and others, when disassociating themselves with Russian owned vessels, the attention must now be focussed on the crew currently employed. With Dykstra affirming: “We are very aware that a lot of crew are going through an unsettling time right now, especially those on Russian-owned vessels and we are here for you. While we will not be placing any new crew on these vessels at this time, we are continuing to support you all through your careers, no matter what vessel you are on and who you are employed by.”

The reputational damage done to the idea of working on Russian owned yachts may have suffered irreparably for many crew.  The stance being taken by some recruiters may serve as a prediction of the perception of the crew, and their willingness to be employed on Russian owned yachts in the near future.

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