ISWAN launches 2015 Annual Review for SeafarerHelp

SeafarerHelp is the free 24 hour multi-lingual helpline for seafarers run by the International Seafarers’ Welfare and Assistance Network (ISWAN).

ISWAN has published the 2015 Annual Review for SeafarerHelp which reveals that last year has been busy for the SeafarerHelp team, with a 17% increase in the number of cases compared to 2014. Cases and seafarers helped have tripled since 2011, as seafarers have become more aware of the support SeafarerHelp team can provide.

SeafarerHelp assisted nearly 10,000 seafarers of 86 different nationalities in 2015. Seafarers contacted us from 129 countries.

The most common problem was unpaid wages while repatriation and contractual problems were also recurring issues, Many of the contacts that SeafarerHelp receives are referred on to specialist organisations for direct assistance. These include the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) and welfare organisations such as Mission to Seafarers, Apostleship of The Sea, and the Sailors Society. Other agencies that assisted included national embassies, harbour authorities, and medical service providers.

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Number of cases

The number of new cases dealt with by the SeafarerHelp team in 2015 was 2,240 and they involved a total of 9,786 seafarers. Once again these figures show a steady growth in the number of new cases with a particularly large increase in the number of seafarers assisted.

Chart below shows there has been a sustained high level of growth in both the number of cases and the number of seafarers the SeafarerHelp team have assisted over the last five years. In addition to the number of new cases there were also 2,774 successive contacts in 2015. It was not possible to record successive contacts before 2014 and so no comparison can be made for previous years.

2015 overview

In 2015 the SeafarerHelp team:

Dealt with 2,240 new cases, involving 9,786 seafarers and their families. In addition, the SeafarerHelp team received a further 2,774 successive contacts.
Helped seafarers of 86 different nationalities.
Provided assistance free of charge 24 hours per day, 365 days per year, to seafarers and their families in their own language as required.

Caseload review

Compared to 2014 there was a 16.6% increase in the number of new cases and an increase of 26.9% in the number of seafarers assisted.
On average 6.1 new cases and 7.6 successive contacts for existing cases came to the SeafarerHelp team every day.
The average number of seafarers involved in each case was four.
Female seafarers accounted for 3.95% of those who contacted SeafarerHelp, where gender was known.
The most common reasons for seafarers contacting us were: requests for information, wages not being paid, seeking employment, problems over repatriation, contract problems and health issues.
The contacts SeafarerHelp team received came from 129 countries, including 31 from Commonwealth countries.
Seafarers from 19 European Union countries contacted the team during the year.
Of the 86 nationalities assisted, the largest numbers of seafarers were Filipinos, followed by Indians, Ukrainians and Russians.
SeafarerHelp team was contacted by seafarers of 18 different Commonwealth nationalities – the largest number were Indian, followed by British, Pakistani, Nigerian, Bangladeshi and Sri Lankan.
Although many cases involved more than one referral agency, SeafarerHelp team referred most contacts to the ITF Co ordinators/ Inspectors,followed by the ITF Seafarers Support team, recruitment websites, the Apostleship of the Sea and the Mission to Seafarers.