SEAFARERS’ right to enjoy shore leave must be vigorously defended, the Wellbeing at Sea Conference 2026 has heard.
The conference, held at the Grand Chancellor Hotel in Adelaide and organised by Mission to Seafarers, has attracted speakers from as far afield as North America.
Executive director of the International Christian Maritime Association, Jason Zuidema, provided a global welfare update, with insights on the experiences of seafarers in a troubled global political environment.
He said just 6% of seafarers regularly went ashore.
“Study after study shows how important for mental health shore leave is,” he told the gathering.
“We need to jealously guard this right.”
The flipside, he said, was access, with nothing in the Maritime Labour Convention guaranteeing the right of chaplains to go on board.
He said the word defining the current environment was “uncertainty”, and “how do we make decisions when we are constantly changing?”
He also spoke about “abandonment” of seafarers and non-payment of wages.
“All these things are real humanitarian concerns,” he said.
“If we bring our voices together maybe we can do something about this issue.”
Reverend Josh Mellick speaks about welfare after a shipping accident. Image: David Sexton/DCN
He noted places where the issue was most acute was where there were no Mission to Seafarers operations.
Reverend Josh Mellick from the Baltimore Mission to Seafarers spoke about care in response to a major incident, notably The Dali, a Singapore-flagged ship that crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, causing a collapse that killed six construction workers.
He talked about the challenges for the seafarers on board, with the crew having their phones seized by the FBI and struggling to connect and communication with their families back home.
The conference is ongoing this week concluding on Thursday.