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Seafarers increasingly stressed over port calls

A just released crewing survey shows the stress levels seafarers encounter when making port calls.

Crewtoo, the online social network for seafarers and a part of KVH Industries, has just published the results of its second Crewtoo Seafarers Happiness Index report.

Designed to monitor and benchmark seafarer satisfaction levels via 10 key questions, this second quarterly report shows a seafarer satisfaction level of 6.44 on a scale of 1 to 10, up 0.02 from the inaugural survey published in May this year.

One interesting issue detailed in the second report is that seafarers often dread port calls because of the increase in workload caused by the many audits and inspections when a ship is in dock. This increase in workload at port also caused a drop in satisfaction levels towards shore leave, as the amount of work often eats into the time available for relaxation.

In addition, a number of seafarers noted that getting ashore costs them at least $100, which presents a major barrier to taking shore leave. Increased stress during port visits and either reduced or non-existent shore leave gives seafarers very few opportunities to relax and unwind away from their vessels.

Sam Chambers

Starting out with the Informa Group in 2000 in Hong Kong, Sam Chambers became editor of Maritime Asia magazine as well as East Asia Editor for the world’s oldest newspaper, Lloyd’s List. In 2005 he pursued a freelance career and wrote for a variety of titles including taking on the role of Asia Editor at Seatrade magazine and China correspondent for Supply Chain Asia. His work has also appeared in The Economist, The New York Times, The Sunday Times and The International Herald Tribune.

Comments

  1. Well that is not a new thing. Modernization of ports and machines is only further going to push the port calls, which might not be good for seafarers.

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