Today we are talking about a holistic approach of wellbeing as we have shed focus not only on seafarers’ mental health but also seafarers’ physical health and social life onboard and overall, on seafarers’ happiness. There are many factors that can improve the quality of life onboard and ensure a happier crew. With that in mind, latest SAFETY4SEA survey, revealed many mental health barriers as well as that physical wellbeing is the most ignored among other aspects.

The 2023 SEAFiT Crew survey, which is the largest survey on crew welfare conducted world- wide with the participation of 1.6K ships and 19K seafarers, highlighted as a key outcome that the internet plays a vital role for life onboard. Over 70% of the crew members don’t experience difficulties in establishing good relationships with their colleagues and rely on high-quality internet access to maintain connections and communicate with their loved ones back on land, a need expressed by an astounding 91% of participants. Also, the survey brought to light several critical concerns that the industry has not given priority to in terms of seafarer wellness, including issues related to wages and shore connectivity. It underscored that the industry tends to react to problems rather than taking a proactive approach.

The survey took place during Q1 & Q2 of 2023, asking from people onboard and ashore to provide feedback on how they perceive several wellness/wellbeing factors regarding their work and life at sea. In particular, participants were asked to answer questions that cover the following key aspects of crew welfare: Wellness; Communication on Physical/Mental health; Wellbeing Factors During onboard; Happiness issues; Physical Wellbeing issues; Mental Health Barriers and; Social Wellbeing Barriers.

The survey questionnaire was answered by a total of 18,352 Seafarers, serving on board 1,574 Ships. The majority of nationalities came from Asia and Europe and the majority of participants were from Philippines (37.3%). Other countries with high participation were Ukraine, India and Georgia. The ship category that involved the majority of participants was ‘Bulk Carriers’, as they form the 31.7 % of the fleet involved.

Read the Report