Tag: life onboard

Capt. Yves Vandenborn, AFNI, Director of Loss Prevention at the Standard P&I Club, suggests focusing on resilience for the crew onboard rather than to competency only. This is the only way to understand the bigger picture and know how to respond to every situation.                           

During our life there will be many times when we feel stressed, such as when the pressures or demands of life get on top of us. However, it is important to remember that stress is not only normal but essential for survival and can be beneficial to us. Moreover, there are ways that can help deal with stress effectively.

Foodborne disease outbreaks on ships, caused by consumption of contaminated food and drink, are of concern because of their potentially serious health consequences for the crew, resulting also in high costs for the companies and the industry.

Last year, the findings of a key industry report by 'Project MARTHA' were presented, identifying growing levels of fatigue, particularly among Masters and Watch Keepers and noting that motivation was a major factor in fatigue experienced by seafarers. 

Seafarers are usually exposed to several stressors due to their demanding working environment. Specifically, they are confronted with mental, psychosocial, and physical stressors. The different duties onboard, separation from family, loneliness on board, fatigue, multi-nationality, limited recreation activity, and sleep deprivation are among the contributory factors of stress at sea.

SAFETY4SEA latest poll showed that 82% believe the industry is not doing enough to attract young talents to maritime jobs. Which are the methods shipping organizations recruit seafarers? And what needs to be done to guide young people take up maritime jobs?

Joseph Meli, Marketing and operations manager at the Mediterranean Maritime Research and Training Centre, argues that although Malta is one of the largest maritime flags in the world and the largest in Europe, the country does not have enough qualified and skilled employees to sustain the Maltese maritime sector.

This is a story of what a woman in maritime can do; a pathway towards overtaking the difficult conditions navigating the male-dominated maritime industry. From the importance of mentoring to the need for equal training.

Mental health and wellbeing are issues playing out regardless of whether they are ashore or onboard. The way a crew member may experience life onboard with other seafarers, himself or his workload is thus related to him or her as individual, multi-dimensional human being.

The Mission to Seafarers, in cooperation with the project founder Steven Jones, have released the first edition of the Seafarers Happiness Index, which was relaunched in 2017. The SHI initiative aims to discover seafarers’ thoughts and opinions on important welfare issues such as shore leave, wages, food, training, social interaction and family contact.