The reality of shipping and its people is a mystery for the wide public, although these are responsible for the majority of goods supplied throughout the world. Have you ever wondered how everyday life feels onboard a limited environment such as a ship?
A new book, entitled “The World of the Seafarer” comes to deliver exactly what it promises: It provides a clear depiction of the most contemporary issues surrounding the life and work of seafarers and the shipping industry of today.
Edited by Dr. Victor Oyaro Gekara, an Associate Professor in the College of Business and Law at RMIT University, and Prof. Helen Sampson, Director Seafarers International Research Centre, Cardiff University, this open access book constitutes an interesting mosaic of complexities of seafaring, based upon the observations and interviews of researchers in multiple disciplines.
But which are these issues? The book covers a big variety of aspects relating to the life of the crew: From recruitment and career issues to interaction onboard multinational vessels and from health and safety issues to seafarers’ representation through unions, as well as employment barriers for women seafarers, occupation, and hierarchy onboard, crew motivations and aspirations, the impact of environmental regulations on seafarers’ routine tasks and many others.
There are three specific reasons which make ‘The World of the Seafarer’ a worth-read: First, it is gathering not only a variety of issues but also the aspects of numerous ethnicities accounting for the biggest supply of seafarers worldwide, such as China, Philippines, and the UK.
Secondly, the book artfully avoids repetition and monotony, as it is actually a collection of texts coming from 10 shipping experts from around the world.
Third and foremost, this book marks another sacred attempt to shed light on the hidden world of a complex global industry, which operates internationally, but very few know how.
As an insightful and detailed account of the human element, the book is a must-read for anyone pursuing a career at sea, former, current, and future students in ship and port management, welfare professionals, policymakers and simply anyone connected with -or just interested in- shipping industry.
Did you know?
The SAFETY4SEA Crew Wellness Survey of 2019 found that Filipino seafarers were the most satisfied and the Indian seafarers the least satisfied group by ethnicity. By ship type, the most satisfied seafarers worked on gas carriers and the least satisfied on container ships.
