How are seafarers coping with life on board

• Main Author: Ling, Yee Ying
• Other Authors: Teh Kong Leong
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2017
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::General
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/71327
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Shipping is the oldest form of transportation and has existed since prehistoric times (Wiley & Sons, 2012). However, trade has only grown substantially over the past couple of decades. With over 90% of the World’s volume being transported via the sea, shipping has become indispensable in facilitating World’s trade. Despite the large number of parties involved, changes in the landscape of maritime transport industry are especially impactful on the seafarers, given their important roles as the industry’s front liners. Seafarers are the driving force behind sea transportation. Without them, trade and the global economy would come to a halt. Thus, this project aims to find out how seafarers are coping with life on board now as compared to the past. To assess how seafarers are coping with life on board, we would like to focus on how their lives have changed over the past 50 years in emerging aspects such as increased regulations and technological advancement, as well as recurring concerns like piracy and safety. These factors are selected, among all the other factors, as the topics of our research as they are issues which seafarers express greatest concern about. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 15 shipping professional interviewees to understand their views. In addition, carefully crafted questionnaires have been issued to 50 current seafarers. The results collected were compared against secondary research data for coherency before conclusions were drawn. The project topic will be addressed in 3 papers. The first report (Increased regulations) focuses on the consequences brought about by increased regulations, its impacts on seafarers and their perspectives. The second report (Technological advancement) addresses the changes in technological advancements and its implications on seafarers. The last report (Threats) concentrates on the progression of piracy activities and safety standards on board over the past 50 years, as well as seafarer’s perception. This paper addresses the well-being of seafarers pertaining to increased regulations. Factors which concern them the most will be discussed. These include workload, responsibilities, rest hours and training. Discussions on the issues generally adopt the following approach: secondary research to provide a basic understanding of the issue identified, followed by analysis of the team’s quantitative and qualitative findings. Thereafter, conclusion for each issue shall be drawn and discrepancies highlighted. Despite the importance of seafarers’ roles in facilitating World’s trade, issues faced by them have seldom been the topic of academic research. Hence, to address this gap, this project aims to identify II the common issues faced by seafarers, which will serve as a useful reflection of pertinent problems to guide future researches.