Seafaring can be an interesting and rewarding occupation. But it can also take its toll of family and social life unless the sense of isolation felt by many seafarers is overcome.
Companies which want their seafarers to be stable, contented and safe should give some attention to their families, says a study from the Seafarers’ International Research Centre (SIRC).
“A seafarer’s life is all about freedom. He comes, he goes, he travels – but he still needs a base. Without a base, he has nothing.”
Loneliness, homesickness and “burn out” syndrome have been identified as the three main psychological problems among seafarers. These are caused by long periods away from home, the reduced number of seafarers per ship, and increased automation. But the biggest cause of stress found in a study of Australian seafarers was the relationship between home and work. Marital and family problems are known to contribute to suicides at sea.
The SIRC examined various facets of seafarers’ lives, and the effect on their families. Detailed interviews with 35 seafarers and their partners in the UK, India and China show that different pressures exist. But there is enough common ground to identify eight major factors that would mitigate the impact on the family life of seafarers in all countries.
How long at sea?
• China: six months at sea and six months’ leave for local companies. Foreign shipowners require that a year or more be worked before a seafarer is allowed three or four months’ leave.
• India: Similar to above for ratings, but shorter for officers – three weeks to six months, but mostly three or four months away.
• UK: Three weeks to six months (mostly three to four months) with leave varying from equal time to two-to-one work to leave.
• The overall picture: Only British women whose partners worked for four weeks or less found the period apart acceptable. All nationalities said they faced loneliness during absence, then irreconcilable emotional distances when they were together.
Demands on leave time
• China: Training courses of up to three months can be required in leave time.
• India: Ratings and petty officers may have to report in to the office, often a flight distance away, on their return.
• UK: Less tangible, but exhaustion on coming home then worry about returning, caused by on-board stress and demands, have an impact on home life.
• The overall picture: Leave time is not free of work worries for any nationality. Chinese and Indian seafarers have to do their training in their leave time. UK officers often return exhausted and take a long time to recover.
Ship visits and women sailing
• China: Some companies now allow wives of senior officers to join their husbands for a voyage. Traditionally, wives have visited their husbands on board in port. But shorter turnaround times have reduced the duration, and journeys are often long and hard.
• India and the UK: Officers’ wives, and some ratings’ wives, can sail – sometimes with children.
• The overall picture: Women feel much closer to their partners and understanding of their occupation if they are allowed to sail with them. Those not allowed to sail regret it and feel shut out and alienated from his life on board.
Company support
• China: The Seafarers’ Wives Committee is a channel through which wives can ask for help from other seafarers. This is helped by the fact that families in port cities live close together. Companies have traditionally supported wives, but economic reform has led to a reduction in their involvement.
• India: Senior officers’ wives have good company support and access, but ratings’ wives are not informed and some feel deliberately kept in the dark.
• UK: Company contact is low, and although wives are not intimidated, their experience and impression of the shipping companies are generally not good. They feel work schedules are unpredictable and disruptive to family life.
• The overall picture: Company support of all kinds, no matter how minor, is valued and helpful. It is particularly important to be able to get in touch with a seafarer in an emergency, and partners like to know where the seafarer’s ship is. Contact with other seafaring families is valuable.
Communication
• China: More homes have telephones, but it is expensive to make international calls, and seafarers cannot call home easily because of fast turnaround times and out-of-town ports.
• India: Indian officers’ households have phones and, commonly, email. But some ratings’ families have only recently had domestic phones installed. Ship-to-shore communication is especially important when couples are in an arranged marriage.
• UK: Mobile phones and email make it much easier for families to communicate.
• The overall picture: Communication is of crucial importance, allowing relationships to develop and be sustained, often over long absences. It helps seafarers to feel part of their families, able to take part in everyday events and make decisions.
Hidden costs
• China: Seafarers are paid during their leave period, but at a much lower rate, so families have to cope with fluctuating incomes.
• India: Seafarers often have to pay the costs of training, including travelling. Sometimes they have to pay big sums to secure a single voyage. Travel for wives to visit or join a ship has to be paid by the family.
• UK: Some women work to help them to cope with their partner’s absence, but often have to take more flexible, and lower paid, jobs to accommodate leave periods. Others do not work because they feel it would be unfair on their children to have both parents absent.
• The overall picture: The nature of life at sea imposes different financial burdens and work constraints on other members of the family.
It remains inevitable that intermittent separation from family and home is part of a life at sea. But home life is not detachable, and how separation is handled has a major effect on the health and morale (and therefore the overall fitness as an employee) of the seafarer. For too long, the role of partners and families has been a neglected, though vital, part of the success and sustaining of the shipping industry.
REASONS FOR DECK AND ENGINE OFFICERS TO TEACH? IS THERE ANY STUDY RELATED TO THAT?
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