Hundreds of thousands of the world’s 1.7million seafarers have been dramatically and exceptionally impacted by the global pandemic over the past year. Some seafarers have been stranded at sea for 21 months whilst some have been separated from their families for up to two years. The dawning challenge of providing vaccinations to the entire seafaring community is only adding to the complex and fast moving discussions the maritime industry is rightly having about how best to serve and protect our seafarers.

Following on from the success of the release of the song “From the Sea I’ll Come Home” with the Sailors’ Society in May 2020, Ince set out to bring our global community together to spread the message (hopefully far beyond the shipping community) of just how much seafarers have done for the world throughout the pandemic.

To raise awareness, Ince is recording a charity single version of “Sailing”, the song made iconic by Rod Stewart. The firm is thrilled to be collaborating with Royal Museums Greenwich, and four of the leading maritime charities (Stella Maris, Sailors’ Society, The Mission to Seafarers and The Seafarers’ Charity) with support from the UK and International Chambers of Shipping as well as from many others from across the maritime industries to make this a success.

The virtual global choir and band has had entries and interest from Canada, the Philippines and the UK to Hong Kong, Nigeria, Singapore and Chile. The single (produced by multi-platinum producer George Shilling) will be able to be downloaded from 25 June 2021 with an accompanying music video (directed by award winning film director Athena Xenidou) telling the stories of some of our seafarers. All net profits will be split equally between the four maritime charities.

Ince Global Senior Partner, Julian Clark says “Seafarers have given so much to our global society throughout the past year. They are keyworkers of the sea. We hope the initiative really highlights to everyone, reaching outside of the maritime community, the lengths they have gone to on all our behalves throughout the pandemic - and the exceptional and unique challenges they have overcome for us all.”

If you could like further information or would like to get involved, please email sfs@incegd.com.