When Ritesh Mehra, 43, enlisted for a four-month stint as captain on a liquid gas tanker last July, he never expected to be stranded at sea until spring.

"Twice it has happened that the ports are not allowing crew change," Mehra told Reuters via Zoom from the bridge of the 80,000-tonne ship docked outside the Indian port of Haldia.

"My family won't trust me anymore. I have been giving them dates when I would...