Idwal has announced the launch of its Social Impact Report to provide insight into the real-world working and living conditions experienced by seafarers across the global maritime fleet.
Drawing on data from over 13,000 vessel inspections conducted by Idwal’s surveyors, the report leverages a proprietary Social Impact Score (SIS) framework to assess ten critical pillars of seafarer welfare, including accommodation, connectivity, health, and recreation. The findings reveal significant gaps between industry commitments and the on-the-ground reality for crew members.
This report represents a call-to-action for all stakeholders to prioritise tangible improvements in crew welfare, which is not only a moral imperative but also crucial for the long-term sustainability and resilience of the sector.
… said Nick Owens, CEO of Idwal
The report’s key findings include:
- A 27.6% cumulative gap between current conditions and the target 100% social impact score, highlighting widespread deficiencies across the industry
- Significant shortcomings in critical areas such as connectivity and recreation
- Substantial variations in performance across vessel types, ages, and sizes, indicating the need for targeted interventions
- Bright spots showcasing best practices that can be replicated to drive positive change
To remind, the 2023 SEAFiT Crew survey, which is the largest survey on crew welfare conducted world- wide with the participation of 1.6K ships and 19K seafarers, also highlighted as a key outcome that the internet plays a vital role for life onboard. Over 70% of the crew members don’t experience difficulties in establishing good relationships with their colleagues and rely on high-quality internet access to maintain connections and communicate with their loved ones back on land, a need expressed by an astounding 91% of participants.
As a follow up on this key finding, SAFETY4SEA has been asked by several stakeholders and participants to test the waters, moving forward seeking ways to effect change in way of making internet connectivity of adequate quality and bandwidth a prerequisite mandatory provision for seafarers onboard ships.
You can sign the petition here. 
