Splash launches special Seafarers magazine

There are companies across the world whoo are discovering that smart strategy depends on hearing the people who live its consequences.

“Seafarers remain vital despite advances in ship automation,” says Horace Lo, group managing director of Modern Terminals, Hong Kong’s oldest container port operator. Quite so, agrees Rosita Lau, a partner at Ince & Co Hong Kong, who suggests seafarer representatives should be invited to sit in board meetings to voice seafarer views and wishes.

At Eastern Pacific Shipping, one of the world’s largest shipowners, the crew’s voice is now built into how the company operates. CEO Cyril Ducau calls it “a matter of alignment,” with policies tested against the daily realities of ship life. The firm’s Life@EPS survey captures crew sentiment on everything from wellness to workload, helping headquarters match policy with practice.

It’s a shift mirrored across many other companies interviewed for this magazine. Wilhelmsen Ship Management has begun tracking how board decisions affect wellbeing and safety, while others — like MF Shipping Group from the Netherlands— have turned regular ship visits and open forums into part of management routine. MF’s Karin Orsel calls it “basic seamanship in corporate form — listen before acting.”

For Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM), that listening now happens on a large scale. Dozens of seafarers attend HR marine meetings to feed back on new policies, says Eva Rodriguez, the manager’s crewing head, who wants their input heard “not as an afterthought but as a foundation.”

The message echoes from crewing hubs worldwide: it’s no longer enough to claim people are our greatest asset. They must be part of the process.

At Wallem Group in Hong Kong, CEO John Rowley has turned annual officers’ conferences into joint workshops with executives. “You get far better solutions when the people who’ll use them help design them,” he says. Others are experimenting with digital feedback loops, social intranets, and crew-to-CEO communication platforms. NSB Crewing Solutions’ Simon Frank describes it as “flattening the sea-to-shore hierarchy.”

What’s driving this push isn’t just ethics — it’s performance. Companies are recognising that welfare, retention, and safety are strategic levers, not line items. “Crew welfare is an investment,” says Oren Saar, the head of agritech firm Agwa. “It strengthens retention, ESG performance, and operational stability.”

That connection between wellbeing and efficiency is now data-backed. Reports from various crew welfare indices show direct links between morale and measurable operational outcomes — from reduced incident rates to better fuel efficiency. The logic is hard to ignore: engaged, respected crews perform better.

Technology has become a new ally in this shift. Digital platforms now give crews anonymous ways to share feedback directly with management, bypassing the old chain of command that often filtered or softened messages. Companies like Columbia Group and BSM have rolled out apps that log onboard conditions, training needs, and even emotional wellbeing indicators.

As Simona Toma of Columbia puts it, “You can’t improve what you can’t see. For years, we’ve had perfect visibility on the hull condition — now we’re finally getting visibility on the human condition.”

The growing interest in direct engagement has inspired fresh ideas. Noatun Maritime’s Carl Martin Faannessen argues from Manila that every major owner should have a seafarer on its board. “If not,” he says, “send the board to sea once a year.” Steven Jones, founder of the Seafarers Happiness Index, adds that sentiment data should sit beside financial metrics: “You can’t steer what you can’t measure,” he tells Splash.

Some operators have already embedded that culture. At Fleet Management, more than two-thirds of directors are former seafarers. “It changes every discussion,” notes CEO Rajalingam Subramaniam. “You don’t talk about crew — you talk about colleagues.”

That shared language is key. Too often, says recruiter Ryan Kumar, maritime decisions are made by people “who’ve never heard what fatigue sounds like on a night watch.” The remedy, he argues, is humility.

That humility also extends to how training and feedback are interpreted. Companies like Anglo-Eastern and Wilhelmsen have introduced so-called crew councils — groups of officers and ratings who meet quarterly to critique company policies and identify improvement areas. Their feedback shapes safety campaigns, mental health initiatives, and training updates. “It’s messy, and that’s the point,” says one crewing executive. “You want friction — that’s how you get realism.”

The renewed attention on seafarer voice has coincided with generational change in leadership. A growing number of senior executives — from Fleet’s Rajalingam to Synergy’s Rajesh Unni — come from the bridge themselves, bringing first-hand empathy to board discussions. “The boardroom used to talk about ships as if they were spreadsheets,” says one former captain now in corporate management. “Now you’ll hear the word ‘crew’ before you hear ‘asset.’ That’s progress.”

Charities now frame welfare as strategy. “Safety, morale, and profitability are not separate issues,” says Mission to Seafarers’ head Peter Rouch. “They’re the same conversation.”

Still, the movement is uneven. Many operators, particularly smaller ones, remain focused purely on compliance. “Some companies view crew engagement as something nice to have — not something necessary for business resilience,” says Chirag Bhari from the charity ISWAN. “That mindset has to shift.”

The pandemic accelerated the conversation. During covid, when thousands of seafarers were trapped onboard for months, many executives experienced a reckoning. “That was the moment when people realised the industry runs on human endurance,” says BSM’s Rodriguez. “It changed how we think about leadership.”

Technology, again, is helping sustain that awareness. Gamified wellbeing modules, digital forums, and onboard surveys now reach crews at scale — though as Jones from the happiness index warns, “tech isn’t empathy.” It can amplify voices but not replace genuine connection.

Companies that combine both approaches are seeing tangible benefits. One shipmanager shared internal figures showing retention rising 8% after introducing structured listening programmes — simple but regular conversations between superintendents and crews focused on what could be improved onboard. “It’s astonishing how far a phone call can go when it comes from someone who actually listens,” says the firm’s HR head.

There’s also growing recognition that the bridge-to-boardroom gap isn’t just vertical — it’s cultural. With multinational crews and managers often divided by geography and language, feedback can easily be lost in translation. “Cross-cultural understanding is part of safety,” notes Noatun’s Faannessen. “When we don’t speak the same professional language, we make mistakes.”

Progress, however, doesn’t just mean adding channels — it means changing attitudes. Several shipowners now treat seafarer feedback as part of ESG reporting, tying it to corporate sustainability metrics. “You can’t talk about social governance without including the people who live your operations,” says one major European tanker executive.

The consensus forming across some of the sector — though not all — is simple but overdue: strategy ashore only works when it reflects life at sea. Whether through formal feedback, board participation, or just more time spent onboard, the best companies are rediscovering an old truth — that the clearest course is plotted when the view from the bridge reaches the boardroom.