A heart for seafarers

Umbrella specialist FARE has come up with something special for this year’s “Day of the Seafarer” on 25 June. Because for this long-established Remscheid-based company, the old saying “Seafarers are a blessing” is especially true: Without seafarers, none of their high-quality umbrellas or parasols would make it from the production plants in Asia to the warehouse in Remscheid.

This year, FARE supported the German Seamen’s Mission with a donation of umbrellas to honour the commitment of seafarers from numerous nations. Both the Hamburg station and the station in the port of Rotterdam received umbrellas bearing the mission’s logo and slogan. Rotterdam is of great importance to FARE, as the majority of goods are imported via this Dutch seaport.

“The supply chain disruptions caused by the Corona pandemic and the current situation in the Red Sea are an impressive reminder of how quickly seafarers on container ships can become the pawns of external influences,” says Sebastian Hahn, Head of Merchandise Management & Logistics at FARE. “The working lives of seafarers are already characterised by long separations from family and friends. Now their assignments are being extended again. It is therefore all the more reassuring to know that the full-time and volunteer staff of the German Seamen’s Mission are on hand as competent and motivated helpers in, for example, Rotterdam and Hamburg. They provide the seafarers with contact opportunities with their loved ones back home, offer the chance to talk after psychologically stressful situations, and try to provide ways of finding peace in a foreign country. We would like to support this impressive commitment and draw attention to their valuable work. We at FARE live social commitment in many different ways. We are therefore delighted that we were able to make the German Seamen’s Mission happy with our donation.”

“When we pick up the sailors from their ships and take them to our clubs and accommodation, Hamburg and Rotterdam can sometimes get pretty rainy. With these beautiful umbrellas, it will be easy for us and our guests to get everywhere without getting wet. Above all, the umbrellas are also a great promotional tool for us and our work, and we would like to say ‘thank you’,” says Stefanie Langos, Public Relations and Communications Officer at the German Seamen’s Mission in Hamburg. www.fare.de

Photo: Stefanie Langos and Fiete Sturm with the umbrellas donated by FARE. © Deutsche Seemannsmission e. V.