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SeafarerHelpThe lifeline for seafarers

Annual Review 2013

Incorporating all services provided by the SeafarerHelp team.

Contents

Foreword ........................................................................................................3

SeafarerHelp services: 2013 overview ........................................................4

2013 caseload review ..................................................................................7

Number of cases ..........................................................................................8

Seafarer problems ......................................................................................10

Seafarer nationalities ..................................................................................13

Flag states ..................................................................................................12

How we work ..............................................................................................13

Methods of contact /communication ........................................................15

Initial contact methods ............................................................................16

Contacts to and from the SeafarerHelp team ........................................16

Conclusion ..................................................................................................17

2 Seafarer Help Annual Review 2013

Cover photo: Julián Péter

This page: Bigstock

The images of seafarersappearing in this report are notrelated to those referred towithin it.

Design: Dacors Designwww.dacors.com

There has been a lot of change this yearfor SeafarerHelp, the free 24-hourmultilingual helpline for seafarers. In April2013, SeafarerHelp formally becamepart of the International Seafarers’Welfare and Assistance Network(ISWAN) when the InternationalSeafarers’ Assistance Network (ISAN)merged with the InternationalCommittee on Seafarers’ Welfare(ICSW). ISWAN continues to build onthe achievements of SeafarerHelp, asyou will see from this annual review.

We are deeply grateful for the continuedsupport for SeafarerHelp by funders and otherstakeholders. In particular, I would like tothank The TK Foundation, the ITF Seafarers’Trust and Seafarers UK for their commitmentand funding.

I took over as Chair of ISWAN in Novemberand I am impressed by the abilities andexperience of the SeafarerHelp team. Theirlanguage skills and dedication to seafarers’welfare means that SeafarerHelp is able toprovide a quality service to seafarers whocontact us.

There are still a number of challenges ahead.We need to secure a sustainable funding basefor ISWAN and SeafarerHelp that will enableus to plan more fully for the future. Byproviding helpline services to otherorganisations through our trading companySeafarers Welfare and Assistance Network Ltd(SWAN Ltd) we will be able to diversify ourfunding base so we are not over dependent ona small number of grant funders.

SeafarerHelp has the potential to grow anddevelop, particularly as more and moreseafarers gain access to moderncommunication systems while onboard, bothat sea and in port.

I believe that SeafarerHelp can play a greaterpart in improving the welfare of seafarersworldwide. I am keen for us to work withshipping companies, unions, welfareorganisations, ports and flag states to ensurethat seafarers are not forgotten and that theirvital role in people’s everyday lives is morewidely recognised.

Foreword by Per GullestrupChairman: International Seafarers’ Welfare and Assistance Network (ISWAN)



2013 has been a very productive year for theSeafarerHelp team and ISWAN as a whole.

There are 10, mostly part-time, staff in theSeafarerHelp team. They provide a 24-hourhelpline service every day of the year, toseafarers and their families from our UK officein Croydon, south London. Between them,they speak 11 languages fluently, includingmost of the languages used by seafarers,such as Filipino, Hindi, Russian, MandarinChinese, Turkish and Urdu. They can alsocommunicate effectively in several otherlanguages and dialects.

This confidential service is free of charge andindependent. Seafarers and their families cancontact SeafarerHelp in a number of differentways – by telephone, email, text, live chat,Skype, Facebook, Twitter, letter or fax. Werefer most of the contacts we receive tospecialist maritime agencies for directassistance, including the InternationalTransport Workers’ Federation (ITF); portwelfare providers, such as the Mission toSeafarers, Apostleship of the Sea and theSailors Society; national embassies orconsulates; harbour authorities; and medicalservice providers. We warmly acknowledge theinvaluable help these organisations provide.

On 1st April 2013 the International Seafarers’Assistance Network (ISAN), which has run theSeafarerHelp line since 1999, merged with theInternational Committee on Seafarers’ Welfare(ICSW) to form the International Seafarers’Welfare and Assistance Network (ISWAN).Although the day to day operation of theSeafarerHelp helpline has not changed, themerger has been very important toSeafarerHelp because ISWAN has a strongervoice and better financial and staffingresources than either of its two constituentbodies had individually. The merger meant asignificant part of the year has been spent onamalgamating the two organisations andlearning to work within new structures. Thisprocess continues as we further refine anddevelop how we work and establish ISWAN’sunique position in the maritime welfare world.

Some of the other important events of thisyear have been:

A significant increase in both thenumber of ‘calls’ to SeafarerHelp andthe number of seafarers helped.

Better promotion of the SeafarerHelphelpline, as part of the wider promotion ofISWAN’s strategic and operational work.We have used social media, specificallyFacebook and Twitter, to reach individualseafarers more effectively to buildawareness of SeafarerHelp. We have alsocontinued to promote the helpline throughour SeafarerHelp posters and new,updated, handy credit card sized cards,which we send to organisations all aroundthe world. We believe that the significantincrease in the number of cases we havedealt with is in part due to this moreeffective marketing strategy.

Improved customer service. We havecontinued a comprehensive staff trainingprogramme designed to improve callhandling, customer service and staffknowledge of maritime issues. During 2013the team participated in 82 trainingsessions, on top of the training given at themonthly team meetings. These coveredtopics including the maritime industry,telephone skills, port visits, managementtraining, ship welfare visiting, the MaritimeLabour Convention 2006 (MLC), MicrosoftOffice (Word, Excel and Outlook) and dataprotection. We regard the training anddevelopment of staff as essential to thefuture of ISWAN and SeafarerHelp and wewill continue to invest in it.

Further moves to diversify our fundingarrangements so that we are not entirelyreliant on grants. We have beennegotiating with a major maritime union torun on their behalf a 24 hour, 365 day peryear helpline and out of hours service andexpect to start the service in 2014. Wealready provide services to the ITF andMaritime Piracy Humanitarian ResponseProgramme (MPHRP) and are looking toexpand this type of contract arrangement toother organisations.

The SeafarerHelp Services:2013 overview

“TheSeafarerHelpteam speak11 languagesfluently,including mostof thelanguagesused byseafarers,such asFilipino, Hindi,Russian,MandarinChinese,Turkish andUrdu.”


The upgrade of our case managementsoftware. This has made it much easierfor the team to manage cases and hasimproved the quality of data. We are nowable to understand more effectively whatis happening to seafarers around theworld and what support and assistancethey need.

A review of our IT systems to ensurethey could accommodate new users.The review concluded that our existingserver was working almost to capacity andrecommended that we purchase a newserver and some new software. This hasnow been done.

The successful relaunch of theSeafarers Emergency Fund (SEF) underISWAN and SeafarerHelp management.In January 2013, ISWAN andSeafarerHelp took over the managementof the SEF. We have increased thenumber of applications to the fund andimproved the turnaround of grants sopayments are made much more quickly.

The setting up of a special SEF fund forseafarers and their families affected bytyphoon Haiyan in the Philippines inNovember. We raised over USD114,000 injust a few weeks. These funds were ring-fenced and were used to enable Filipinoseafarers to contact home, free of charge,

to find out what had happened to theirloved ones and their homes. Any fundsthat remain unspent will be used to assistin the reconstruction of the seafaringcommunities affected by the typhoon.

A major external development this year wasthe coming into force of the Maritime LabourConvention, 2006 (MLC). The conventioncovers all aspects of seafarers’ wellbeing,including conditions of employment,accommodation on board, catering, health andwelfare. Once fully implemented, theconvention should help improve the lives ofmany seafarers worldwide. Seafarersconcerned about contraventions of theconvention can contact the SeafarerHelp teamand we will refer them to the appropriateorganisations and authorities.

The SeafarerHelp service receives financialsupport from the ITF Seafarers’ Trust, The TKFoundation and Seafarers UK , whosegenerosity allows this vital service to seafarersand their families to continue.

Photo: Julián Péter

The images of seafarersappearing in this report arenot related to those referredto within it.

“Compared to 2012, there was a 35%increase in the number of new caseshandled and an increase of 47.5% inthe number of seafarers assisted”




Compared to 2012, there was a 35% increase in the number of new cases handledand an increase of 47.5% in the number of seafarers assisted

On average 3.4 new cases came to the SeafarerHelp team each day

The average number of seafarers involved in each case was 5.2

There has been a significant increase in the number of cases coming to the teamfor each of the last three years, and the evidence from the first part of 2014 is thatthis is set to increase further

In addition to new cases the SeafarerHelp team was working with approximately250 ongoing cases at any given time

The most common problems seafarers raised were in relation to unpaid wages,repatriation, contracts, health and seeking employment. It is interesting to notethat the first three issues have remained the same for many years

Of the 72 different nationalities assisted, the largest number were Filipinos,followed by Ukrainians, Indians and Russians

We were contacted by seafarers from 17 different Commonwealth countries. Thelargest number were from India, followed by Pakistan, United Kingdom,Bangladesh, Ghana, Kenya, Malaysia and Mauritius

Seafarers from 15 different European Union countries contacted us during the year

The contacts that we received came from 98 different countries, of which 27 are inThe Commonwealth

Although many cases involved more than one referral agency, we referred most tothe ITF Inspectors, followed by the ITF Maritime Operations Section, the Mission toSeafarers and the Apostleship of the Sea

The initial contact to SeafarerHelp was usually by telephone or email; however, theuse of Facebook is increasing and the use of SMS texting is decreasing.

2013 caseload review:

Dealt with 1,257 cases involving 6,473 seafarers and their families

Helped seafarers of 72 different nationalities calling from 98 different countries

Had over 36,000 incoming and outgoing contacts by telephone, email, SMS,Live Chat and Skype

Provided assistance free of charge, 24 hours per day, 365 days per year andoften in the seafarer’s own language.

In 2013 the SeafarerHelp team:


Comparing the last three years

We believe the considerable increase in casesand seafarers assisted in the last three yearsis due to three factors:

1. Although we started to improve ourmarketing in 2012, in 2013 it was muchmore effectively targeted at seafarers usingsocial media, particularly Facebook. Thereis a close correlation between ourFacebook advertising campaign and theincrease in the number of cases, and thusthe number of seafarers, that we havedealt with during the year.

2. The world recession continued through2013 and the maritime industry continuedto be hit, with seafarers often ending up asthe victims when marginal companiesfound themselves unable to continue inbusiness. It is worth noting that in 2013 theteam was involved in 16 cases where aship had been abandoned by its owners,double that of 2012.

3. This year saw the first full 12 months ofproviding helpline services for otherorganisations, through our wholly ownedsubsidiary company SWAN Ltd. This hasboth raised our profile with seafarers andwelfare organisations and increased thenumber of cases going to these helplines.

However, the number of new cases receivedeach year does not tell the full story of theteam’s work. Many seafarers contact us forinformation on a wide range of subjects. Weare able to deal with most of these enquiriesimmediately, although more complicated onesrequiring the involvement of severalorganisations, sometimes in many ports indifferent countries, take longer.

The five case studies provided throughout thisannual review illustrate the variety of situationsthat the team deals with.

Number of cases

The number of cases handled by theSeafarerHelp team in 2013 was 1,257,involving 6,437 seafarers, compared with 931cases involving 4,388 seafarers in 2012. Thisrepresents a 35% increase in the number ofcases and a 47.5% increase in the number ofseafarers assisted. This followed a 30%increase in cases from 2011 to 2012.

“The number of cases handledby the SeafarerHelp team in2013 was 1,257, involving6,437 seafarers.”

Chart 1

“The five casestudiesprovidedthroughout thisannual reviewillustrate thevariety ofsituations thatthe team dealswith.”


A Filipino chief engineer was in Chile when hewas advised by a doctor that he needed anurgent eye operation, otherwise he could goblind. He called the SeafarerHelp helpline toexplain that the hospital had to be paid beforethey would operate and had booked him into ahotel to wait for his Protection and IndemnityInsurance club (P&I club) to approve hisshipping company’s claim. The shippingcompany and the P&I club were both based inJapan. The seafarer was very worried andstressed because he felt alone and was notsure he could get the financial approvalquickly enough to save his sight.

The SeafarerHelp team referred the situationto the International Christian MaritimeAssociation (ICMA) for their contacts in Chile

to provide welfare support to the seafarer. Atthe same time, we contacted the ITF inspectorin Chile, who in turn contacted the shippingcompany in Japan and explained the situationto them. In just three days, the P&I club andthe shipping company approved the operation.

While waiting for the operation, the chiefengineer felt isolated so one of our Filipino-Spanish speaking team members, who wasworking nights, telephoned him each evening.The chief engineer found the simple act oftalking to someone in his own languagecomforting and reassuring.

The chief engineer’s operation was successfuland he returned to the Philippines. He thankedus for supporting him.

Case study

“While waiting for the operation, the chiefengineer felt isolated so one of our Filipino-Spanish speaking team members telephonedhim each evening. The chief engineer foundthe simple act of talking to someone in his ownlanguage comforting and reassuring.”



The pregnant wife of a Ukrainian seafarercontacted SeafarerHelp to complain that herhusband had not been paid for over threemonths and that she badly needed the moneyto prepare for the impending birth of theirchild. We soon established that her husbandand the rest of the crew had been abandonedin South Korea by the ship owner, and thecaller’s husband agreed for us to refer his

case to the ITF. The local ITF inspectorboarded the ship and arranged for it to bearrested by the local authorities. The ITF alsoarranged for the seafarers to be repatriated totheir respective countries. However, theseafarers could not be paid their outstandingwages until the vessel was sold by auction. Inthe meantime, the seafarer was very happy togo home and saw the birth of his baby. A fewmonths later he and all his colleagues finallyreceived their outstanding salaries when thevessel was sold.

Case study


Seafarers contact the SeafarerHelp team for awide variety of reasons but unfortunately themost frequent reason is still to ask us to helpin respect of unpaid wages. This accounted for28.5% of all contacts in 2013 and was asignificant increase from 2012, when it was25% of a much lower total number ofseafarers.

Seafarer problems

“The seafarer was very happy togo home and saw the birth ofhis baby.”

Seafarers contacted us for other reasons:

Information requests – 15% of all contacts,the same as 2012

Repatriation problems – 14.5% ofcontacts; although lower than the 18% in2012, the actual numbers of casesincreased in 2013

Problems in no specific category – 12.5%of contacts

Contract problems – 6.5% of contacts,less than the 9.5% in 2012

Seeking employment – 3.5% of contacts

Other problems encountered includedabuse and bullying, ship conditions andclaims for personal compensation.

Chart 2 shows a breakdown of the principalissues that the SeafarerHelp team dealt withduring 2013.

Photo: Bigstock


Chart 2

Seafarers’ issues raised with SeafarerHelp

The six Ukrainian crew of a ship that had beenabandoned by its Ukrainian owners at ananchorage in Cyprus contacted SeafarerHelpin July 2013 for assistance. They told us theywere running out of food, water and diesel andthat they had not been paid for four months.We were told that another Ukrainian ship thatwas nearby had been giving them food andwater but was now leaving.

We had a lot of difficulties in communicatingwith the crew because the telephone lines andmobile numbers did not always work. Wecontacted the Mission to Seafarers, and the

local chaplain was able to make direct contactwith the crew and made arrangements forthem to receive food and water. We alsocontacted the Ukrainian Embassy, who in turnurged the Ukrainian ship owners to repatriatethe crew. We asked the ITF to pursue theissue of the unpaid wages.

Although the provision of food and water wasarranged relatively quickly, it took a fewmonths for their embassy to arrange for thecrew to be repatriated and reunited with theirfamilies.

Case study

“They told us they were running out offood, water and diesel and that theyhad not been paid for four months.”





In 2013 the team was contacted by seafarersfrom 72 different countries who required someform of assistance. Of the countriesrepresented 17 were members of theCommonwealth, a further 15 were countriesfrom the EU and another six were from thedeveloped world. The following informationrelates to the nationality of the seafarermaking the contact with the team and does notreflect the nationality of those other membersof the crew that they may be representing.

It can be surprisingly difficult to find out aseafarer’s nationality, and 13% of all thosewho contacted us chose not to reveal theirnationality, largely because they wereconcerned that they could be identified anddamage their future employment prospects.

Previously, we reported on the nationality of allthe seafarers we assisted. However, as thosecontacting us on behalf of others often do notknow the nationality of the other crewmembers they are representing, this year wehave changed to reflecting the nationality onlyof the person who made the contact. Thisensures that our data is as accurate as

possible. This applies, therefore, to thefollowing information.

In 2013 the team took contacts from 98different countries of which 27 wereCommonwealth countries.

In 12.3% of cases the caller either withheld ordid not know what country they were callingfrom. We understand why seafarers withholdtheir nationality but not why so many arereluctant to tell us where they are contactingus from.

There was a significant increase in contactsfrom India and the Ukraine, mainly due to ourFacebook advertising campaign.

In order of percentage of contacts: 9.7% ofcalls came from India, 8.7% from thePhilippines, 7% from the Ukraine, 4.6% fromthe United Arab Emirates, 4.2% from the UK,3.8% from the United States of America and3.2% from Russia. Significant numbers of callswere also taken from China, Brazil, Italy andTurkey.

The number of seafarers who contacted uswhile at sea was 9%.

Seafarer nationalities

Chart 3

Nationality of the seafarer making the contact


We always ask, as part of our standardinformation, for the flag state of the vessel thecontact is employed on. However, seafarersdo not always know where their ship isregistered and sometimes they do not want todisclose it, in which case we do not pursue theinformation. In 2013 a total of 290 of thosewho contacted us did not disclose where theirship was registered.

In 2013 the SeafarerHelp team dealt withseafarers on ships that were registered in 73different countries, of which 17 were from theCommonwealth. The six most frequentlyencountered registries are shown in chart 4below, together with the number of cases thatrelate to them and, in brackets, their relativeposition in terms of their size in the world fleettable, according to the UNCTAD Review ofMaritime Transport 2013.

Unsurprisingly, the top three ship registriesthat ISWAN was contacted about exactlyreflect the three largest registries – Panama,Marshall Islands, and Malta. However, thefrequency with which ships registered inAntigua and Barbuda were reported to ISWANwas disproportionately high given the size oftheir registry, while the number of reportsabout ships registered in Malta fell from 56 to36, which, given the increase in casesreported to the team, can only be interpretedas an improvement.

All of the countries on the list have ratified theMLC 2006 that entered into force in August2013. Given that most of the issues that theteam deal with are clear breaches of the MLC,it will be interesting to see if over the next fewyears the number of cases reported, and theflag states they relate to, changes so that theyreflect the top six largest registries.

Flag states

Chart 4

Flag states our contacts’ ships wereregistered to

(Figure in brackets:Registry ranking by size)

Singapore (5)

Malta (8)

Antigua and Barbuda (20)

Marshall Islands (3)

Liberia (2)

Panama (1)


“He expressed hisgratitude to theSeafarerHelp team forthe help and supportwe had given him andhis wife.”

A chaplain in the Philippines got in touch withSeafarerHelp to report that the wife of aFilipino seafarer had contacted him. Herhusband had suffered a work-related spinalinjury on board a ship in Argentina and hadbeen taken to hospital for surgery. Thechaplain asked the SeafarerHelp team if wecould get someone to visit the seafarer inhospital so that his wife could be updated onhis condition.

We contacted the Apostleship of the Sea inArgentina and they agreed to make the visit. Inaddition, one of our Filipino speakers madedirect contact with the seafarer, found outabout his medical condition and passed the

Case study

information to the man’s wife. He then kept inregular contact with her. It took a few weeksfollowing surgery for the seafarer to be fitenough to travel but he was then repatriated,with a nurse as escort, to the Philippines.

Once home, the seafarer remained in regularcontact with us reporting on his recovery,which was expected to take up to a year,during which time he was unable to work. Heexpressed his gratitude to the SeafarerHelpteam for the help and support we had givenhim and his wife. He also asked about how hemight claim compensation for his injury so wereferred him to the ITF in the Philippines, whoare continuing to help him with his claim.



The SeafarerHelp team receives a very widerange of contacts from seafarers and theirfamilies, some of which are more complexthan others.

Where it is a simple request for information –for example the address of the SeafarerCentre in a particular port – the team dealswith the enquiry themselves. Such requestsaccount for 15% of all contacts in 2013, thesame percentage as 2012.

However, the majority of contacts we receiveare more complex and the team usually refer

them to our colleagues in specialist agencies,who can provide assistance in the port orcountry that the seafarer is located in. In thisway we act as a referral agency to help theseafarer decide on which organisation is mostappropriate to assist them. Most of theagencies that we use specialise in themaritime sector and have shore-basedpersonnel in ports around the world. Thisenables them to provide direct, personalassistance to the seafarer, which can be ofgreat reassurance to them.

How we work

The wife of a Filipino first engineer contactedour helpline to say that her husband had aproblem on his ship in Australia, and asked usto contact him directly.

A SeafarerHelp officer contacted the man, whoexplained that he had a health problem andthat a doctor in Australia had given him acertificate saying that he was not fit to work.The first engineer did not want to disclose hishealth details to us but wanted to go home tothe Philippines for treatment. Unfortunately,the captain was delaying his repatriation andthe seafarer asked if we could assist withrepatriating him while his ship was still inAustralia.

We explained how SeafarerHelp works andafter checking what agencies were availableat his location, we asked him who he wantedus to refer him to. He chose the ITF so weasked its local inspector to visit the seafareron the ship, which he did that day. With theinspector’s help, the seafarer was taken to ahotel the following day to wait for a flighthome. Two days later we received an emailfrom his wife, saying she was very happy thather husband was now home and thanking usand the ITF for providing such quickassistance.

Case study



The agencies that the team refer to include theITF inspectors, the ITF’s Maritime OperationsTeam and various national seafarers’ unions incases where the issue relates to a contractualproblem. For welfare or personal issues, wewill contact welfare organisations such asmembers of the International ChristianMaritime Association (ICMA), for example, theApostleship of the Sea, the Mission toSeafarers, Sailors Society, DeutscheSeemannsmission and the Seaman’s ChurchInstitute. The team refers cases to portauthorities, and, where appropriate,government agencies such as embassies,consulates or the police or coastguardservices. We also refer to organisations suchas the Red Cross, Red Crescent, port medicalfacilities and the MPHRP. In many cases, theissues that seafarers present to us includeboth contractual and welfare issues, in whichcase we will refer them to the ITF or a union,as well as to a welfare agency.

One of the key principles of the SeafarerHelpservice is that a case will only be referred to aparticular agency with the seafarer’s consent.We are sensitive to seafarers’ concerns thattheir employment opportunities might beharmed if particular unions are involved or

their wishes to be assisted only by those of aparticular faith. We do our best to balancethese requirements in order to achieve thebest possible outcome for the seafarer, but itcan be difficult if, for example, a particular portdoes not have welfare facilities.

Making contact with the SeafarerHelp helplinewill usually result in the seafarer being referredto a welfare agency or other organisation inthe country that they are in. Before 16September 2013, when we upgraded our casemanagement software, it was not possible togather all the information to make a referralfollowing the first contact so we could not logwhich organisations seafarers had beenreferred to – as a result, those statistics havea category of ’No first referral, for these cases.The new software resolved this so that in 2014we look forward to having all the informationabout referrals to welfare organisations.

As the most frequent problem seafarers reportto us continues to be non-payment of wages,often for many months and in some casesover a year, it is not surprising that many ofour contacts are referred to the ITF, either itsinspectors based in the relevant country or theMaritime Operations Team in London, or to theappropriate national union.

“The most frequent problemseafarers report to us continuesto be non-payment of wages.”


Chart 5

The organisations that the SeafarerHelp team referred cases to in 2013


As always, we try to make it as easy aspossible for seafarers to contact theSeafarerHelp team. They can contact us in awide variety of ways: by telephone oninternational toll free lines, email, SMS text,Live Chat, Skype, Facebook, Twitter, fax andby post.

Method of contact /communication

The information regarding communicationmethods is presented in two ways. Chart 6shows only the method the seafarer initiallyused to contact the helpline, not how anysubsequent contacts were made. Chart 7shows all the incoming and outgoing contactsof the SeafarerHelp team, including initialcontacts.

Do you have a problemwith unpaid wages,repatriation, a welfareissue, do you just want to talk to someone? If sowe are here to organisehelp for you.SeafarerHelp is the onlyworldwide helpline forseafarers and their families that is:

•Free•Confidential•Multi-lingual •Available 24 hours aday, 365 days per year.

Find us on:

SeafarerHelp is supported by:

Service provided by:


SMS

www

Send SMS messages to:+44 (0) 7624 818 405Email us:[email protected] chat:www.seafarerhelp.orgToll Free:00 800 7323 2737Request call back:+44 207 323 2737

Find us online at:www.seafarerhelp.org

Contact us:

“We try to makeit as easy aspossible forseafarers tocontact theSeafarerHelpteam.”


Depending on what method a seafarer usedfor the first contact with SeafarerHelp, theteam will often explore other methods tocontinue the contact more easily or securely,such as email. We would be concerned, forexample, about dealing with a case totallythrough Facebook because of the potentiallack of confidentiality and would find it difficultto deal with a case completely via SMS text.However, if a seafarer insists on a particularmethod of contact then we will comply withtheir request.

It is interesting to note how the contactmethods change, even over a short period oftime. For example, the number of initialcontacts by SMS text fell from 129 in 2012 to99 in 2013. This may be because textingincurs a charge and other, free methods arejust as convenient to use. In contrast, thenumber of initial case contacts by Facebookrose from 12 in 2013 to 41 this year, and wewere contacted a further 110 times in this way

Initial contact methods

for follow-up contact. We think it likely that thisincrease is due to us using Facebook moreeffectively since October and seafarers’familiarity with the medium.

For ISWAN an advantage of Facebook is thatit allows us to contact seafarers directly. Asseafarers become more aware of ourFacebook presence, we expect to see asubstantial rise in 2014 in the number of initialcontacts using it. Following our promotionalcampaign on Facebook, the number of likesfor the SeafarerHelp page soared by 86,000 toreach nearly 90,000.

There was also a 34% increase in the numberof seafarers using Live Chat for their initialcontact, from 176 in 2012 to 236 in 2013

However, the most popular methods of initialcontact remain the telephone (up from 353 in2012 to 523 in 2013) and email (up from 257to 370 in the same period).

Chart 6

Initial contact methods


Chart 7 shows all the incoming and outgoingcontacts for the SeafarerHelp team, so gives amore representative picture of the ongoing levelof activity. Incoming contacts rose by a modest2%, while outgoing contacts fell by 24%.

However, the 2012 both incoming andoutgoing contact figures do not comparedirectly with 2013. The 2012 figures includedtwo additional staff who are now working aspart of the ISWAN administration, so their

All incoming and outgoing contacts

communication data is not included in the2013 figures. Also, in 2012 the SeafarerHelpteam updated the Seafarers Centres Directoryand undertook research for the port leviesreport, produced by ISWAN in May 2013,which together required them to make andrespond to a very large number of contacts.While the figures are not directly comparable,they do show some broad trends in terms ofcommunication methods.

Chart 7

All incoming and outgoing contacts

Incoming contacts to SeafarerHelp team

Outgoing contacts

Telephone

3,688

Email

16,810

Letter

1

SMS

806

SMS

1,929

Email

7,571

Telephone

1,990

Skype

2,422

Facebook

151

Live Chat

761


The increase in the number of calls toSeafarerHelp shows that, despite the cominginto force of the MLC, there is still a need tosupport seafarers who face a range ofproblems while carrying out their occupation.

There are still many employers who do nottreat their crews well and these seafarers areforced to turn to organisations like ISWAN forhelp. On a more positive note, there are signsthat the shipping industry is beginning torecover from the worldwide recession, whichwill provide more opportunities for seafarers.

We hope that over the coming year seafarerswill gain greater access to free or cheapcommunications while onboard. This will notonly improve their welfare but will enable themto more easily contact SeafarerHelp if theyneed us. We are looking at how we can adaptand improve our services to meet the welfareneeds of seafarers as they change. We arealso looking at how we can work more closelyand co-operatively, and share resources, withother organisations concerned with seafarers’welfare.

Conclusion

“There are signsthat the shippingindustry isbeginning torecover from theworldwiderecession, whichwill provide moreopportunities forseafarers.”Photo on this page: Julián Péter

Back cover: Bigstock

The images of seafarersappearing in this report are not related to those referred to within it.

International Seafarers’ Welfare and Assistance Network(ISWAN) is a Registered Charity, number 1102946 and aRegistered Company Limited by Guarantee, number 3171109

If you would like more information about ISWAN, theSeafarerHelp service or the Seafarers EmergencyFund please contact us directly or check our websites.Details are given below.

Similarly, if you would like to know more about theservices we currently provide or what services wecould provide for you, or if you can offer financial orother support, please feel free to talk to us using oneof the numbers below.

SeafarerHelp telephone: +44 (0) 207 323 2737SeafarerHelp email: [email protected] ISWAN office telephone: +44 (0) 300 012 4279ISWAN email: [email protected]

ISWAN and SEF: www.seafarerswelfare.org SeafarerHelp: www.seafarerhelp.org

Contact us


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