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Governments are taking precautions to keep people safe as they travel. Business Insider's senior retail correspondent Kate Taylor has been traveling around Asia for the past month and a half. She shows you how to protect yourself in airports and on planes. The CDC website has warnings before you travel.

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A docked freighter ship.
Freighter cruises.Slowtravel - Arne Gudde
  • Sailing aboard a cargo ship is a popular form of travel.

  • Shipping firms took precautions against COVID-19, which caused the industry to crash.

  • Specialty travel agencies are seeing more and more people wanting to go on a cruise.

Cruise lines are still experiencing a steady recovery, with some reporting fully booked cruises and others boasting off the charts onboard spending.

While monthslong cruises have performed well, one of the slowest forms of cruising has continued to struggle.

Booking a room aboard a commercial freight vessel for a multi-week voyage may not be the ideal way to travel, but for those like Hamish Jamieson, founder of New Zealand-based Freighter Travel, there is nothing else quite like it.

It has a unique smell of pitch, sea salt, food, and dead bodies. He told Insider that it gets in his blood.

A freighter ship at sea.
Freighter cruises.Slowtravel - Arne Gudde

It is his business to cross oceans by freighter. Jamieson is one of a few travel agents around the world who specialize in booking passage aboard freighters, a specialty that is proving increasingly fraught as the business struggles.

Private passengers were carried on cargo ships in officers cabins, offering a spartan but spacious alternative to conventional cruise liners. The end of that came in January 2020 when reports of the novel coronaviruses started to emerge.

The whole ship may have to be in if there is an outbreak among the crew.

As the Pandemic enters its third year and national health authorities continue to offer shifting guidance, it is not entirely clear how this much-beloved niche mode of travel will recover. With bookings unlikely to return until 2023, the few experts who can navigate the international red tape are at risk of going out of business without alternative income streams.

A docked freighter ship.
Freighter cruises.Slowtravel - Arne Gudde

The only trip he has available is a "hell of a voyage" from Rotterdam to Reykjavik, but who wants to go this time of year?

The revenue lost from not carrying passengers is not a big deal for the major carriers.

Most shipping companies make 30 million dollars a day, and the entire revenue of freighter travel is less than 5 million a year.

The risk associated with carrying passengers is not worth the meager profit for Maersk.

International maritime law only allows 12 passengers on a ship without a medical doctor. Millions of dollars worth of cargo could be delayed due to an arrangement that nets the shipping companies only a few thousand dollars on a three-week voyage.

A view of cargo while on a freighter cruise ship.
A freighter cruise.Slowtravel - Arne Gudde

As more travelers seek a slower-paced way to see the world, their wait times are getting longer.

The market is getting smaller. But demand is growing.

The number of spots that are expected to open next year is not enough to satisfy the demand for his services.

Smaller regional shipping firms, sailboat owners, train services, and even hiking trails are some of the alternatives that have been given a boost by the exit of major cargo carriers from the cruising space.

If you want to become a cargo cruiser, you have to practice the two most important skills of freighter travel: having patience and being flexible.

The original article is on Business Insider.

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