The Sea Archive

Celebrating the men and women that keep international trade moving June 25 marks an important day for global at-sea workforce. For 11 years, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has co-ordin...

A champion for seafarers By Carly Fields Throughout the pandemic, Bjørn Højgaard has championed tirelessly for seafarers’ rights. He has staunchly promoted key worker status for seafarers and ...

Teaching has not kept pace with change in the shipping industry, leaving crew ill-equipped to handle challenges By Carly Fields This year’s UK Chamber of Shipping conference featured a People Pa...

Do not underestimate the huge amount of regulatory review necessary to bring autonomous ships into the commercial shipping fold By Michael Grey With plenty of other things to worry about in the la...

There are many health benefits to spending down-time solving puzzles. Lower stress levels, better memory, improved mood, improved problem solving abilities, and better work performance are just some o...

Jarin Chowdhury is the first female cadet from Bangladesh to sail on foreign-flagged ships. She was awarded the Cadet Award at The Mission to Seafarers annual Seafarers’ Awards, presented to the cad...

By Yrhen Bernard S Balinis The evening sky is illuminated by the colourful city lights visible in the distance. The sounds of revving vehicles rushing to reach their destination reverberate. It’s...

MtS chaplains bring considered gifts to crews to let them know that they are cared for By Verity Relph Most of the world will never get the chance to hear about, never mind taste, a Welsh cake, bu...

By Felicity Landon What has changed since Captain Knud Præst Jørgensen, master of the Elly Maersk, first went to sea with Maersk in 1981? That’s an easy question to answer, he says: “I would ...

Crew must be properly trained on the use, storage and maintenance of pilot ladders to avoid serious injuries to pilots By Sudhir Malhotra Pilot ladders are critical equipment for ensuring the saf...

By Renat Besolov Working as a seafarer offers many opportunities. I work in the fishing fleet; we fish for snow crab in the Barents Sea. The work is physically hard, but it brings in a good income ...

A Lloyd’s Register-led survey sets the foundations for improvements in seafarer well-being By Verity Relph As of December 2020, as many as 400,000 seafarers were stranded on ships working beyond...

Seafarers demand respect for the life-critical services they have tirelessly provided during the pandemic By Michael Grey Some years from now, when the historians get to work on the Great Pandemic...

How increasing awareness of maltreatment of seafarers can help to tackle the issue By Eliza Ader It was a late August afternoon when my brother – Matthew – and I were dis- cussing project idea...

Some owners have risen admirably to the challenge of lifting the spirits of seafarers By Steven Jones The latest report from the Seafarers Happiness Index (SHI) has been released, and features fee...

Adjustment of seafarers’ records is a widespread problem that urgently needs to be addressed By Carly Fields New research from a project team at the World Maritime University (WMU) has uncovered...

Paying more than lip service to seafarer welfare By Carly Fields In these distressing times a “tiny sliver of positivity” is emerging from the chaos of the pandemic, according to Vroon Offshor...

Shipping is an international, multicultural industry – we all know that. But what does that mean for those at sea? By Felicity Landon One word keeps coming up when discussing the priorities arou...

The ICS’ Guy Platten explains why seafarers are absolutely not forgotten 2020 has been one of the toughest years in living memory. While the pandemic itself has taken its physical toll, the mental ...

Let’s make sure that there is a proper review of remote processes before we fully embrace them In this strange and horrible pandemic, much has been made of the need for everyone to minimise human c...

Better motivation and a retention rethink needed to encourage and keep women at sea By Felicity Landon Let’s start with statistics: when it comes to women at sea, most people quote the Internati...

The Mission’s WeCare initiative has put an emphasis on relationship guidance The Mission to Seafarers port chaplains and welfare teams know only too well the challenges that seafarers face. They un...

Who will be the onboard expert for future fuels or electronic equipment? By Michael Grey What a lot there is for the modern seafarer to learn, beyond the old established skills passed on from thei...

The Mission has reached out to help seafarers during the Covid-19 pandemic By Verity Relph The Covid-19 crisis has hit crews and their families across the globe hard and the Mission to Seafarers h...

An army of knitters offer literal and spiritual warmth for seafarers By Verity Relph Even at the best of times, life on the ocean can be challenging. Rough seas, the threat of piracy and shipwreck...

Could owners and crewing agencies do more to support less able seafarers? By Felicity Landon The rules are clear: all seafarers must pass strict medical examinations before they can set foot on a ...

Past crises have demonstrated the flexibility of shipping and Covid-19 is proving no different By Michael Grey In all the economic and transport turmoil caused by Covid-19 and violent movements in...

Celebrating Sea Sunday is all the more important in these challenging times By Verity Relph For 160 years, churches have united every July to celebrate Sea Sunday. It is an opportunity for people...

Seafarers today need a blend of education tools to ensure continuous and appropriate development By Manish Singh Having been a seafarer and a ship manager for over 25 years, I believe that learnin...

Crews voice Covid-19-related concerns in the Seafarers Happiness Index By Steven Jones Seafarers Happiness Index (SHI) gauges the big issues affecting those at sea, and there can be few things in ...

Celebrating the rescue efforts of those at sea in the pre and post Covid-19 world By Ben Strong A familiar question in our home is: “Hey Dad, when is the package going to get here?” As more an...

Facing up to unprecedented challenges in moving seafarers on and off ships By Felicity Landon At the start of May, 12% of the 5,500 seafarers on board ship manager Thome’s ships had gone past th...

What does the threat of criminalisation really mean to seafarers? By Charles Boyle The Covid-19 pandemic has brought about unprecedented challenges for the maritime sector with seafarers facing pr...

Taking the opportunity to rediscover, rethink and re-evaluate our global community By The Revd Ramaçes Hartwig I am writing this reflection in Easter week in the midst of the turmoil brought by t...

Meet those working around the clock to help seafarers caught out by Covid-19 By Felicity Landon On May 1, in response to a call from the International Chamber of Shipping and International Transpo...

Oceanographer Art Allen has spent his life's work improving the capabilities of offshore search and rescue teams By Carly Fields As an oceanographer employed at the US Coast Guard, one would be fo...

Shore leave for Seafarers is not easy to come by, as they have to overcome a myriad of hurdles in order to take advantage of it… By Felicity Landon Early in February came the news the Singapor...

Fuel scapegoating worries and rising racism issues have come to the fore By Steven Jones The Seafarers Happiness Index allows crews to share detailed feed- back on the challenges facing them at ...

Entering enclosed spaces might be just part of the job, but never forget the hazards such a task presents By Phil Belcher As a first trip cadet, one incident is imprinted upon my memory when I b...

The Mission’s safeTALK training programme champions a community-based approach By Verity Relph It is a distressing fact that close to 800,000 people lose their lives to suicide every year. Thi...

Companies need to recognise the operational and environmental factors that affect mental health By Katie Higginbottom Mental health in the maritime sector, as in other sectors, has been swept un...

New research proves that stable crewing strategies can be transformative for both seafarers and ship operators By Carly Fields Onshore there’s a great deal of reliable data confirming the bene...

A serious re-think is needed on the subject of seafarer training By Michael Grey Why should it be such a struggle for cadets and other trainees to find berths aboard ship to give them the sea ex...

Seafarer Vikas Mishra, abandoned on the cargo ship Tamim Aldar  for almost three years, speaks to The Sea about his ordeal By Kate Jones In October 2016, Vikas Mishra boarded the Tamim Aldar ca...

Knitters around the world take great solace in making items for seafarers By Andrew Wright The Mission to Seafarers, along with a number of its colleague societies, continues to give out very la...