Depression amongst seafarers is a serious matter. However, I am amused by the way maritime do-gooders have been approaching the problem. For instance, I hear a renewed call for greater access to the internet for seafarers. Undoubtedly, connecting with family and...
In the rough and tumble of ship crewing, a completely honest and professional manning agency with real empathy for seafarers can be as hard to find as diamonds in the sand. Seafarers, however, are not looking for diamonds. They simply want to be employed. Their...
The exploitation of seafarers in the 21st century is so systematic and so efficient that it can be compared to a state-of-the-art engine. In spite of ILO Maritime Labour Convention, 2006, and incessant talk of mariners' rights, the engine will not stall anytime soon....
Some things are not taught in maritime schools but should be. No, it's not the fact that seafaring is a dangerous profession. That much is known to anyone who has watched the Pirates of the Caribbean film series. What young people are not told are the difficulties...
Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill. Keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt. ~from the Tao-te Ching (translation by Stephen Mitchell) The shipping industry is trying hard to reduce emissions from ships. Well and good. Global warming is bad enough...
With so much talk about seafarers' rights, one might miss the bigger picture and overlook other cases of human exploitation. Not the least is child labour, which French painter Fernand Pelez (1843–1913) poignantly depicted in A Martyr – The Violet Vendor, 1885...
Academic papers usually make for dull reading. The Mental Health of Seafarers, written by one Robert T.B. Iversen and published in 2012, is no exception. It starts with the typical abstract and ends with a list of references (57 in all). Even the title is fittingly...
The international maritime community has strong vocal chords. It can create quite a noise when it wants to, as evidenced by the current blabber and bluster about wellness training for seafarers. Ironically, the folks who are voluble on such faddish issues are silent...
The international maritime community is going gaga over wellness training. One UK-based seafarers' charity even wants to make it mandatory for seafarers. That idea is pinheaded but not really surprising. The shipping industry has a weakness for buzzwords which tends...
How dumb and foolish can some people be? The use of maritime cadets as unpaid labour by Philippine manning agencies is a clear case of exploitation. I would even call it a form of modern-day slavery. Yet, many Filipinos think it is perfectly normal. The arguments they...
This is a new version of an article originally published in Marine Café Blog on 27th February 2015. I have retained much of the original. ~ BU The shipping industry talks incessantly of seafarers’ rights. The maritime unions and charities have made a fetish of it. How...
Isn't it sad? Many young men and women are responding, not to the lure of the sea, but to the siren call of the dollar. Surely, there is more to seafaring than just money or the chance to travel the world. A sailor's life can be fulfilling in many ways, but it is also...