SUPPORTING seafarer wellbeing is not just about welfare but is a strategic business priority vital for the global maritime sector to achieve its sustainability, decarbonisation and digitalisation goals, a new report from the UK-based Seafarers Hospital Society (SHS) asserts.
Seafarers are under more pressure than ever from multiple sources including regulatory complexity, tighter shipping schedules, longer voyages, lack of financial support for new training demands, geopolitical instability and a global shortage of officers, the SHS report, The human heart of sustainable shipping, released on 20 October, observes.
As a result of workforce pressures, 93.4% of seafarer respondents to a survey for the report said fatigue remains the top threat to safety at sea.
And a cautious business approach by shipping lines to scheduling can backfire, the report notes.
“Operational caution, such as limiting shore leave for quicker turnarounds, may seem financially prudent,” the report notes. “However, these decisions can adversely affect morale and crew retention, and if combined with fatigue, could also adversely affect safety.
“Increasingly tight schedules and increased responsibilities onboard, particularly as new reporting requirements and new technologies and/or fuel systems are introduced, can contribute to stress, fatigue and burnout.”
The report also notes the anxiety created by the rise in piracy, abandonment by some lines and criminal infiltration of the seafarer workforce.
Based on work with UK seafarers over the past year, the report also draws on the ICS Barometer 2024-25 and the IMO-WISTA Women in maritime Survey 2024 and observes that women comprise only 1% of the global seafaring workforce.
SHS has sought to address the practical welfare of female seafarers through supplying 1000 discreetly packaged feminine hygiene kits at the Port of Tilbury and London International Cruise Terminal. It also has supplied defibrillators to UK ports, first aid kits to fishing vessels and provides an advice hotline, and a mental health service.
But addressing overall seafarer welfare and by extension the sustainability of shipping requires a global and industry-wide approach, the welfare organisation says.
“Meaningful support can be simple and effective,” SHS CEO Sandra Welch said on releasing the report. “However, to build long-term resilience for the industry, we need systemic investment and coordinated action.”