SeafarerHelp Assisted Over 7700 Seafarers in 2014

ISWAN issues 2014 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 have just produced the 2014 Annual Review for SeafarerHelp which reveals that last year has been busy for the helpline with a 53% increase in the number of calls to SeafarerHelp and a 19% increase in the number of seafarers assisted.

In 2014 the SeafarerHelp team dealt with 1,920 new cases and helped over 7,710 seafarers. Since 2011 there has been a dramatic growth in the number of calls coming into SeafarerHelp and the number of seafarers assisted – there has been nearly a 270% increase in the number of calls and over a 250% increase in the number of seafarers helped.

Number of cases

In 2014 the number of new cases dealt with by the SeafarerHelp team was 1,920, involving 7,710 seafarers.

Most 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 who assisted included national embassies, harbour authorities, and medical service providers.

Roger Harris, Executive Director of ISWAN said “The SeafarerHelp team worked hard in 2014, working every hour of the day and night and every day of the year assisting seafarers. We wish to thank our funders and other supporters for enabling us to provide this vital lifeline for seafarers all over the world.”

Seafarers greatly value the service. One said “…your service is excellent …my problem is solved”. Another said “it was nice knowing that you were here for us when we needed help”. In a follow up survey 83% of respondents felt that the SeafarerHelp service was either excellent or good and 89% said that they would recommend using it to other seafarers.

2014 overview

In 2014 the SeafarerHelp team:

• Received 1,920 new cases, involving 7,710 seafarers and their families. In addition, we received a further 2,305 successive contacts.
• Helped seafarers of 84 different nationalities making contact from 113 different countries.
• Provided assistance free of charge, often in the seafarer’s own language, 24 hours per day, 365 days per year.

Caseload review

• Compared to 2013 there was a 52.7% increase in the number of new cases and an increase of 19.1% in the number of seafarers assisted.
• On average 5.3 new cases and 6.3 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 3.24% 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 we received came from 113 countries, including 27 in the Commonwealth
• Seafarers from 18 European Union countries contacted the team during the year.
• Of the 84 nationalities assisted, the largest number of seafarers were Filipinos, followed by Indians, Ukrainians and Russians.
• ISWAN was contacted by seafarers of 20 different Commonwealth nationalities – the largest number were Indian, followed by British, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, Ghanaian, Bangladeshi, Nigerian and Kenyan
• Although many cases involved more than one referral agency, we referred most contacts to the ITF Inspectors, followed by the ITF Maritime Operations (MOPs) team, employment agencies, the Apostleship of the Sea and the Mission to Seafarers.

Further details may be found by reading SeafarerHelp Annual Review 2014