The Seafarer's Happiness Index - What can it tell us?

Every quarter, the Mission to Seafarers asks crew serving on vessels around the globe how they feel about their lives at sea. Covering their experiences onboard and the things that matter to them, from connectivity to wages, workload to welfare, training, shore leave to health, diet and interactions onboard. The Seafarers Happiness Index gives insight into the way those at sea feel, and the reasons why. It is a vital tool for the industry to know its people, to hear their opinions and what their impacts are on them and also the wider risks faced by shipping. You can find out more at happyatsea.org  

We discuss what makes seafarers happy and look to the future of always on connectivity and what that might mean from a risk management perspective.  

Lest we not forget the disastrous grounding of the MV Wakashio on the Mauritian coral reef in 2020, due to an error in navigation caused when going off track in search of better cell phone coverage, a case like this underlines the importance of managing the issue of shipboard connectivity.  But what are the unintended consequences of this communications prerequisite for a happy shipboard life, and how can an owner and operator manage this new risk to shipboard safety.