Mercy Ships has raised around $791,000 towards its hospital vessel operations in sub-Sahara Africa thanks to the generosity of the worldwide shipping and trading community.
The funds were donated during the charity’s latest Cargo Day event which has been staged annually since 2016.
Around 80 charterers, shipowners, shipbrokers, port agents and other shipping companies contributed.
Mercy Ships already operates the world’s largest civilian hospital vessel, the 16,572-gross ton Africa Mercy.
That ship will soon be joined by the 37,000-gt Global Mercy which has been built in the Far East with extensive technical and supervisory assistance by supporting maritime companies.
Those vessels cost many millions of dollars each year to operate, as well as requiring hundreds of volunteer doctors, dentists, nurses, domestic workers and others to provide free medical care to people in Africa who cannot afford or simply have no access to treatments.
The latest Cargo Day 2021, which ran last year between mid-November and the end of December, saw companies pledge 26 donations of between $1,000 and $10,000, nine of $10,000 to $25,000 and six of $25,000-plus.
Also, 76 so-called Mercy Cargoes, where shipbrokers contribute 50% of their commission, were given and six address commissions.
It means that this sixth annual Cargo Day has taken the running total raised since 2016 to around $4.7 million.
A full-page “Thank You” with the names and logos of all participating companies will be published on Friday January 21 in the leading shipping industry publication TradeWinds, one of Cargo Day’s partners.