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SEAFARER WELLBEING
Crew welfare and wellbeing are
particularly relevant due to the
global pandemic Life at sea can be very stressful for seafarers.
Even under normal circumstances having to
live and work onboard 24/7 for weeks at a time
can produce its own unique set of challenges.
Many have only sporadic contact with family and friends at home due to a lack of
internet access onboard. Even when they talk with them, they can feel cut-off or
even helpless if something is happening at home due to the physical distance and
remoteness of being on a vessel in the middle of an ocean. It is little wonder then
that mental health issues such as anxiety and depression can be far higher in the
maritime sector than in other industries.
During the pandemic, seafarers’ mental health issues have increased due to issues with
crew changes, which have been so severely restricted that around 400,000 seafarers
were reportedly unable to be repatriated and had to work beyond their normal con-
tracts at the global peak of the virus. Some were onboard for over 12 months in direct
contravention to the Maritime Labour Convention.
Even now, the protocols for crew changes are complex, with on-signers undergoing a
quarantine period interspersed with a series of tests. The same applies in reverse to
off-signers, not to mention the difficulties involved in trying to book one of the few
international airline flights or chartering a plane to repatriate crew.
Life at sea can also affect a seafarer’s physical and social wellbeing. Failing to take the
proper safety precautions while performing a task on board can cause unnecessary
accidents leading to injury, with the most common being slips, trips, and falls. Social
An article by Jacob Damgaard interaction can also be a minefield as vessels are often a mix of different ethnicities,
Associate Director, Loss Prevention, religious beliefs, and languages, which can cause cliques to form and leave some crew
Britannia P&I members feeling ostracised.
18 MINERVA IN FOCUS – ISSUE 16 / Q2 2021
