A survey reveals the truth about the emotions of the seafaring community
23 June 2016, Kolkata: The unrest was already visible! Starting from community blogs to forum discussions seafarers across the globe expressed their disappointment as far as the working conditions in the ships are concerned. Now keeping in mind the “Seafarer’s Awareness Week” and the “Day of Seafarer” in the corner Sailors Club has conducted a survey asking the seafaring community about their emotions surrounding the event.
“Did you hear about the “Seafarers Awareness Week”? It is going on right now and I won’t be surprised if you don’t have the slightest idea about the event. The reality is that “Seafarers Awareness Week” and the upcoming “Day of Seafarers” on 25th of June, has nothing to do with seafarers. It is just an initiative by IMO in order to promote UK maritime job opportunities, at sea and ashore” reads the heading of the survey circulated throughout the entire community.
Soon after the survey was published the participants started pouring in their response. The questions were very specifically evaluating the extent to which a seafarer shows contempt about the management’s attempts to provide a suitable working environment in the ships.
The answer to this question revealed that a majority of the seafarers acknowledges the change in the attitude of the management after the MLC convention but at the same time there is visible discontent also. Going further into the survey Sailors Club asked the truth about the “Rest Hour Record” in the ships.
On a positive note about 35% of the participating seafarers responded by saying that so far their experience is good but there are still a considering number of respondents who claimed that the system lacks legitimacy. In order to get a proper insight, Sailors Club then asked the members about the specific elements of the living conditions in the ships.
Most of the respondents confirmed that the living conditions are proper but as far as the other factors are concerned the seafarers are not satisfied.
Finally, in order to know whether the seafarers actually are aware about the “Seafarers Awareness Week” Sailors Club asked the sailors directly about their idea regarding the concept.
Unfortunately only around 17% of the respondents were able to answer this question correctly and that fact in itself reveals many layers of truth. The program organized by IMO is definitely a good initiative for the young generation but amidst everything else the real issues remain hidden. Sailors Club has always tried to be an eye-opener for the industry pointing out the real hardship faced by the seafarers out there in the oceans. Since it is the time for the truth, let us indulge in some real “Seafarers Awareness” campaign which demands the inclusion of real hardworking seafarers in the program thereby demanding a fair and just environment for them to work under sound management of the ship owners and the ship management companies. When the real issues of the seafarers are overlooked this kind of programs by IMO will not achieve its relevance and importance in the seafaring community. According to us, the real “Seafarers Awareness” campaign should involve the ship owners and ship managers to join hands and create an environment which will provide sustainable solutions to the problems like unemployment, poor working condition and lack of communication from the outside world.
About Sailors Club: Sailors Club is a free social networking site dedicated exclusively to the maritime industry. Launched in the year 2013, Sailors Club already has membership of over 18, 000 maritime professionals including seafarers, ship management companies, ship owners, chandlers, P&I officers, surveyors and maritime media. Along with providing a free platform to the maritime community to interact and connect, Sailors Club also provides many other free services such as Daily National News to Ships, Weather updates, Vessel Tracking, Container Tracking etc.
Viewers can read te full PR herebelow which includes graphics:
