As Sailors’ Society celebrates another highly successful African conference for the next generation of maritime professionals, the global charity is announcing a second partnership with the ITF Seafarers’ Trust, rolling out its highly successful Wellness at Sea training for cadets, ratings and trainees across the continent.
Based on the partnership and programme pioneered with overwhelming success in India, and using the Society’s experienced global training team, the programme now promises to supplement and enhance the training curriculum for the future of maritime in Africa and will lay the foundation for long-term improvements in seafarer welfare.
With an emphasis on the importance of wellbeing, the programme gives these young seafarers early exposure to the realities of life at sea and equips them with the practical tools that can help maintain their and their peers’ mental and physical health throughout their careers.
One year on from its launch in India, nearly 2,000 Indian maritime cadets, ratings and trainees have already benefited.
Sailors’ Society CEO, Sara Baade, said: “While Africa is emerging as a key expansion point for global shipping and a growing source of maritime workers,
the continent’s maritime welfare and wellbeing infrastructure remains significantly
underdeveloped compared to other parts of the world.
“Data from our Wellness at Sea conferences reveal that African cadets have the highest percentage amongst all regions in terms of seeing a maritime career as long-term, while having the least access to welfare and wellbeing initiatives.
“This underscores the critical need for targeted welfare and wellbeing programmes to support Africa’s growing seafaring workforce, and by fostering a solid foundation and familiarising these Gen Z seafarers with welfare services from the start, it not only builds resilience but also encourages long-term engagement with the industry.
“Our work in India has shown that this early intervention ensures they are better prepared, more confident, and supported throughout their maritime careers.”
General Secretary of trade union NUMSA, Irvin Jim, added: “The ITF’s partnership with Sailors’ Society in India has already shown how important addressing the physical, mental, emotional, and social aspects of life at sea is in fostering healthier, more resilient maritime professionals.
“Here at NUMSA, we look forward to extending this partnership to Africa so that this holistic approach to wellness can make a profound impact on this continent, promoting not only personal health among our cadets, ratings and trainees as they embark on their careers at sea, but also safer and more effective shipboard operations.”
More than 1,000 cadets, ratings and trainees logged on for the 2025 Africa Wellness at Sea Conference – safe, seen and supported – seafaring in a changing world. This is the fifth year that these events have been held, and they attract more than 10,000 next generation seafarers from across the globe.
The conference for the Indian subcontinent event, earlier this month, saw record breaking numbers attend and registrations for the South East Asia event on October 18 and the conference for the UK and Europe on November 20, are now open.
