Reinventing relationships between seafarers and their families in a digital era

Following the recent launch of ISWAN’s new Family Outreach Programme for the families of seafarers in the Philippines, we explore the crucial role of family members in supporting seafarers’ mental health at sea.

Spending long periods away from family and friends is one of the inherent challenges of a career at sea. Even when all is well at home, being apart from loved ones, potentially for several months, can be hard to endure. However, the stress of being at sea when life at home is challenging can have a major impact on seafarers’ health and wellbeing.

At ISWAN, over recent years we have seen a steady increase in the number of seafarers who turn to our helplines for support to cope with difficult situations at home. In 2023, our helplines supported 92 seafarers who were experiencing problems in their personal life, slightly below the 99 contacts received in 2022 but substantially higher than 39 contacts in 2020 and 73 in 2021. Difficulties in their relationship with their partner or the ending of a relationship was the issue that seafarers raised most frequently with ISWAN’s helpline officers. Many seafarers also contacted our helplines with concerns about the health of close family members, often sharing their sense of powerlessness about feeling unable to provide practical help and support in the way that they would if they were able to be physically present. ISWAN’s helpline data bears out the significant impact on seafarers’ mental health of coping with the stress of difficult family situations, at the same time as managing an extremely demanding and intense workload at sea. In recent years, almost 60% of seafarers who contacted ISWAN for help with family and relationship issues have also sought support for the detrimental impact on their mental health.

The nature of the relationship between seafarers and their families has been revolutionised in recent years by the arrival of high-speed internet at sea. For previous generations of seafarers, news from home – whether good or bad – arrived only sporadically, via infrequent phone calls at port visits, or, prior to that, periodic letters. Today, however, many seafarers are in daily connection to family life via video calls, instant messaging and other social media platforms. A recent study by maritime research firm Thetius found that 98% of seafarers rely on their smartphones during leisure time, with 80% saying that they spend their rest time communicating with family and friends.

What helps to maintain strong family relationships at sea?

ISWAN asked seafarers to share their ideas about cultivating strong relationships when a family member is away at sea and making the most of time together at home. Their suggestions include:

‘We have specific traditions that only my husband does with our children. He takes our boys for their haircuts and takes them shopping for their trainers. That’s his thing. That’s a dad thing.’

‘We always do everything together as a family when he’s home.’

‘We always send a good morning and night message to him.’

‘We recognise that he needs decompression time after being cooped up in a small cabin.’

‘Internet connection, free of use, to call home regularly, especially to videocall with young children.’

‘Smooth communication with the crewing department of the shipping company about planning, family affairs that need cooperation, feedback and evaluation of job satisfaction.’

‘Life onboard is tough but with the huge help of our technology these days it feels like your family is right next to you, such as video calls, message and SMS are great, every single day of our life at sea.’

‘Maintaining strong family relationships while navigating a seafaring career can be challenging. Open communication, regular check-ins, and creating special moments when together can help bridge the distance. Utilising technology for video calls, sharing experiences, and understanding each other’s roles can also foster understanding and connection.’

We consistently hear from seafarers and their family members how important internet connectivity has become to life at sea. The ability to maintain closer connection with loved ones can undoubtedly have a very positive impact on seafarers’ wellbeing, as it can be an invaluable source of support and strength during long months of separation. However, despite its many benefits, it is nonetheless clear that the advent of high-speed connectivity on ships represents a major transformation and one that is not always seamless, just as is the case in many aspects of life at shore.

In recent years, maritime employers have begun to raise concerns to ISWAN about the challenges of reinventing life and work at sea in the digital age. Some fear that the internet is having a negative impact on crew cohesion, as seafarers are spending increasing amounts of rest time in their cabin rather than socialising with colleagues. Others raise the possible safety implications of crew being distracted by social media whilst on duty. Perhaps the concern that we hear from ship owners and crewing agents most frequently, however, is that the advent of online connectivity has led to seafarers being much more acutely aware on a day-to-day basis of the difficulties and challenges that their loved ones are experiencing thousands of miles away at home. For some seafarers, the sense of powerlessness that can result from being unable to provide practical, on-the-ground support to family members can have a significant impact on their health and wellbeing.

At ISWAN, we are firm advocates for free internet access onboard and believe that seafarers should be trusted to use the internet responsibly and in their own best interest, in the same way as those of who are shore based. We also believe that there is considerable scope for the technological revolution to have a positive impact on seafarers’ health and wellbeing, by enabling them to maintain close and supportive relationships with their loved ones whilst at sea.

In order to help maximise the potential for technology to support seafarers’ wellbeing, ISWAN has developed a new Family Outreach Programme (FOP) to empower family members to make effective use of the internet to maintain healthy relationships with their seafaring relatives. The programme aims to help to bridge the gap between family members’ perceptions of what life at sea is like and the day-to-day realities and stressors that their loved ones face at sea. This includes supporting family members to understand how to take advantage of the potential of the internet to alleviate the loneliness and homesickness that so many seafarers can experience, for example, by finding creative ways to include them virtually in family events or cultural or religious celebrations. The programme also, however, encourages families to understand the potential impact on seafarers’ wellbeing of over-involvement in challenges of daily life that they have limited capacity to resolve, and explores what effective communication channels between sea and home might look like in a digital age. Furthermore, the programme sets out to equip family members with resources that will help them to protect their own health and wellbeing during periods of separation, including financial planning, self-care and sources of support in emergencies.

As high-speed internet makes its entry on an ever greater number of ships, maritime employers have the opportunity to make use of the rapid proliferation of communication possibilities to help to reimagine a career at sea in a digital era. In order for these benefits to be fully realised, however, employers will need to take proactive steps to harness their potential. One way that they can do this is to empower seafarers and their families to make constructive use of the internet to navigate the emotional and practical challenges of prolonged separations in a mutually supportive way.

ISWAN’s Family Outreach Programme (FOP) was launched in the Philippines in July 2024 and will be rolled out to India later this year. If you would like further information about the FOP, get in touch at [email protected].

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