It is impossible to deny that innovation and rapid advancement are happening throughout a shipping industry that has been severely impacted during the past two-and-a-half years by COVID-19, labor shortages, container shortages, and port backups. Concurrently with these challenges, the industry has continued to explore and innovate on alternative fuel sources and to work to reduce its carbon footprint.
Yet, what hasn’t changed is that innovation, new techniques, new ships, and new technology still require seafarers to operate, manage, and oversee these vessels. Whether it is gaining new expertise, increasing safety, or crisis management, seafarers need to be trained in all facets of any new technique or technology. While the pace of change and innovation can be exciting, advancement and efficiency should never come at the expense of the men and women who crew these vessels for months at a time.
The past two-and-a-half years have shown us that supply chain disruption places additional strain on seafarers — longer or extended contracts, challenging timetables, lengthy port delays, and reduced or denied shore leave increase the strain on seafarer mental health and well-being and can result in a demoralized workforce with veteran seafarers seeking new career opportunities ashore.
The recent International Labor Organization meeting to consider updates to the Maritime Labor Convention, 2006, adopted several new amendments that can be traced directly to the impact of the pandemic on seafarer safety and mental health. One innovation and change that we at SCI believe to be most impactful to overall mariner wellness is the introduction of universal internet access to all seafarers while at sea and in port.