Reasons Behind Why Seafarers Quit Sea Jobs
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.
Note
: Kindly note that by no means we are trying to say that a career in maritime
industry is not worth the efforts. In fact, we feel that a career in merchant
navy is the best career opportunity one can get.
Main
Reasons Seafarers Quit Sea Jobs
1.
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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. Health Issues
Sailing
on ships requires meeting stringent medical and health requirements. As
strict as the rules to be meet before joining the ship are, it’s an irony that
life on board ship is not even close to healthy. Erratic sleeping schedule,
excessive working stress, unfriendly environment, unavailability of fresh food,
and inadequate medical facilities drastically affect seafarers’ health.
Moreover several seafarers also have to quit sailing once they are diagnosed
with conditions which might require immediate attention in times of medical emergency.
Many also complain about the increasing difference between work and
rest hours, in spite of laws demanding proper distribution of them.
9. Reducing shore leaves
One
of the main reasons people join merchant navy is the lure to see the world.
However, in the past few years there have been a sudden reduction in shore
leaves that are being granted to the seafarers. With faster turnaround
time of ships at ports and scheduled maintenance procedures, seafarers are not
allowed to go out on ports. Also, many VLCCs and large capacity ships don’t
even come to the port for discharging or loading, giving no chance to seafarers
to refresh themselves away from the ship’s environment. Such consistent sailing
with less or negligible opportunities for shore leaves have frustrated several
seafarers who have eventually quit sailing.
10. Lack of Shore Jobs
This
cause might sound a bit contradictory, but this is also one of the main reasons
why seafarers quit the field early in their career. Though most maritime
institutes and experts promise adequate on-shore opportunities for seafarers,
those wanting to shift to shore find it difficult to get a worthy job. Most of
the companies ask for good amount of experience at sea, in order to get a job
in their on shore office. Moreover for a good managerial position on shore,
either one has to do an MBA or take up some equivalent courses. Seafarers find
it difficult to get back to studies after certain point of time, especially
when they are bound by family responsibilities. Many seafarers are now able to
foresee this and thus change their course very early in their career. However,
compromising on the salary is one thing they have to accept sooner or later.
11. Reducing crew members
With
the financial crisis looming over the industry, shipping companies are
utilizing every technique possible to cut back expenses and overhead costs. In
an attempt to do so, the number of crew members on ships is being reduced to
compensate the necessary expenses. As a result, mariners are experiencing
substantial increase in work load, without any increase in remuneration. This
trend has been seen almost across all shipping companies around the world. The
higher demand of work load with same or negligible increase in payment is also
making several seafarers quit sea jobs.
12. Stringent Maritime Laws
Stringent
maritime laws have made lives of maritime professionals difficult, especially
for those at the management level. Many seafarers in the past have been
imprisoned, heavily fined, and suspended as a result of such laws. Officers at
the management level are the ones who often bear the brunt of these laws and
are therefore constantly at stress while sailing. This has been one of the main
reasons for the acute dearth of maritime professionals at the managerial level.
Apart
from the above mentioned reasons, seafarers have stated several other factors
which force them to quit sailing. However, the above mentioned ones are the
most commonly stated ones by professionals across all ranks.
