Coup in Myanmar shocks its Shipping Community

The military coup in Myanmar overnight has sent shockwaves through the Southeast Asian shipping community.

The military seized power by carrying out a coup in Myanmar on Monday after arresting the country’s civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and many other senior government figures, vowing to take over the government for the next 12 months. The main cause of the events is due to irregularities during the last parliamentary elections in November 2020.

While the country’s ports remain open today, Yangon’s main airport is closed.”Many crewing agents and ship management companies are shaken by the events in Yangon this morning. They all have offices and presence there. With the total crackdown and the airport closed, this will not help the crew to change the crisis,” a well-placed source in Singapore’s maritime community said on condition of anonymity.

Myanmar has a growing presence in terms of crewing, with the current maritime workforce numbering around 50,000.