Every year, maritime institutes around the world churn out thousands of fresh deck cadets and marine engineers. Each of these young graduate has high hopes of making it big in the maritime field by becoming a first-rate seafarer some day.
With their newly attained knowledge and training, these officers embark on-board ships with reputed shipping companies, work for few years, and attempt to upgrade their ranks. However, in spite of highly lucrative job offers, adventurous working environment, and a “globetrotting” lifestyle, most of these seafarers suddenly decide to quit their ship jobs by accepting opportunities onshore. This trend is on the rise and is now being seen in several countries around the world.
As the number of seafarer quitting the industry increases every year, we ponder, what is it that propels them to quit such a respectable and lucrative career after sailing for few years? Though some of the reasons we found out are common and obvious, there are a few new and surprising ones as well.
After doing a survey which involved a number of sea-going professionals who have already quit sea jobs or are planning to, we enumerated the following main reasons which bother seafarers today.
Main Reasons
Unsettled Lifestyle
This is the most common and obvious reason as these days more seafarers want “settled” jobs on shore. At the start of the career, a seafarer would not mind having a “nomadic” kind of lifestyle, but after certain years, especially post marriage, he longs for a more stable lifestyle, especially with his family. This is definitely not a new reason behind seafarers quitting sea jobs, but it is still one of the prime reasons for professional dissatisfaction.
Hectic Life
One cannot deny the fact that life on board ships has become extremely hectic. With more stringent maritime regulations coming up each year, life as a seafarer has become increasingly hectic, laborious, and monotonous. Increase in paperwork, advanced training guidelines, new codes, and rigorous safety and environmental laws have made the lives of seafarers extremely hectic on board ships. Moreover, many seafarers have also stated poor management of manpower on board ships as a reason for increase in work load. Needless to say, the already hectic life on ships is becoming even more hectic every year.
Onboard politics
No matter how hard you try to stay away from professional or personal politics on board ships, it will get to you sooner or later. Politics and conflicts on ships not only make it difficult to work but also to socialize within the already small group of people on board. Moreover, there is a very thin line between professional and personal life on ships. This makes it even more difficult to avoid as well as deal with politics or conflicts arising as a result of differences in opinions. One needs great determination, patience, and skills to deal with difficult people on board ships, especially after having professional/personal arguments.
Lack of Social Life
Almost everyone who joins ships is brought up in a social environment since birth. When such people are suddenly exposed to confined spaces of ships with almost negligible social life, negative effects such as frustration, loneliness, and homesickness start taking a toll on them. Initially the life on ship might not seem bad, but as time passes, a sense of emptiness starts creeping in. Lack of interaction with people and limitations on physical movement make life more miserable on board. It takes a lot of courage and mental steadiness to keep a calm and focused mind on ship. Many seafarers eventually quit because of this reason.
Away from the Family
Though most of the seafarers can digest the fact of staying away from friends for few months when sailing, parting away from the family for months together is what tear their hearts apart. Some might have just started their married life while others would have recently experienced parenthood, missing those precious moments with their loved ones for whom they care the most, is what hurts seafarers to the core. No seafarer wants to miss spending time with his wife or see his son or daughter grow old without him being around. It is then that seafarers realize the importance of “family life” and “loved ones”. The pain of staying away for months is also one of the main reasons seafarers quit sea jobs.
Personal/ Family Problems
One cannot stay focused at work when bothered by family or personal issues. Seafarers often face this problem when they leave their family problems at shore. However, not able to attend to the personal problem and its impeding negative effects on the family, induces a constant state of worry which reduces the ability to focus on one’s duties. It’s extremely difficult to work when you are physically on the ship but mentally back at home. Moreover, what hurts more to seafarers is the inability to attend to any emergency situation or incident in their family back home. Such situations lead to extreme frustration, anxiety, sleeplessness, and stress among seafarers. Many seafarers have quit sailing because of this reason.
Rise in Maritime Piracy
Though several steps have been taken lately to fight piracy at sea, incidents involving pirate attacks and high-jacking of ship’s crew occur almost every month. The threat of piracy attacks is ever increasing and seafarers are obviously scared in spite of availability of weapons to fight them. No one wants to risk their lives or put themselves in danger by sailing on ships which ply in piracy affected areas. The fear of pirates is also stated as one of the many reasons by seafarers for leaving ship jobs.
