The Seafarer Happiness Index is a report commissioned by The Mission to Seafarers, a charity aiming to ensure the welfare of those working at sea. Its responses revealed a slight increase in positivity after the third quarter of 2022.
The report works by asking a sample of seafarers to rate their happiness with different aspects of the job out of ten. This is then used to generate an average level of happiness within the industry.
The average grew from 7.21 by the end of the second quarter of the year to 7.3 in quarter three. While this change is not huge, it is indicative of a significant and sustained improvement as the impact of the pandemic lessens. The average was much lower at the beginning of the year, sitting at 5.85 in the first quarter.
The most noticeable change looking at the latest data is a vast improvement in sentiment towards shore leave, suggesting improvements in the amount of time on the shore offered to seafarers.
According to the report, one seafarer said: “Crew should be entitled to shore leave regardless of the challenges of Covid-19 restrictions. Human beings are part of nature, and to be called normal is to have access to our natural habitat.” He described simple activities like eating in a restaurant and crossing the street as “good refreshments for a seafarer that has been away for quite some time”.
