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Every year, the maritime industry takes a pause to celebrate the essential work of 2.5 million seafarers, without whom world trade would not be possible. Men and women from every nation keep the 74,000 vessels of the merchant fleet moving, enabling the movement of 90 percent of all traded goods. Without their behind-the-scenes efforts, the smooth-running supply chains for food, energy, industrial supplies and consumer products would grind to a halt. It takes them away from home for up to 11 months at a time, and it exposes them to inherent risks that - even when appropriately managed - have always been a part of life at sea.
"To all seafarers: thank you. Your work is essential to the functioning of the global economy and the daily lives of people around the world. While it may not always seem visible, your safety, security and welfare remain our highest priority," said IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez.
Working through risk
Seafaring is tough work, and though the data show that it has gotten much safer in recent years, seafarers take on an inherent level of risk when they step aboard - as illustrated by new numbers from Gard. The leading insurer took in about 850 claims for crew injuries in 2025, and the pattern shows that everyday tasks are responsible for a large share of the total. These are familiar occurrences: accidents during mooring, cargo movement and maintenance are among the most common. Simple slips and falls account for fully 29 percent of the total. Most incidents occur in the morning, at the start of the day-work shift, and most occur early in a seafarer's rotation, during the first few months on board. These risks do not go away with age and experience.
"Accidents causing injuries do not only happen to inexperienced crew or during unusual situations. They often occur during normal work when experienced crew carry out familiar tasks," said Gard chief claims officer Christen Guddal. "Ultimately, the data reminds us that this is less about human failure and more about the realities of human limitations in demanding operational environments."
The best operators in the industry make great efforts to manage those risks and ensure that the crew's well-being is taken care of; labor regulations help incentivize that effort. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Maritime Labour Convention 2006 (MLC), the comprehensive regulation for seafarer rights, and the International Chamber of Shipping is taking the opportunity to highlight the MLC's advantages - and the problems that arise when it is sidelined or ignored.
"Where the MLC, 2006 is fully implemented, shipping is safer, more predictable and more sustainable. Where it is weakened, not applied or applied inconsistently, both seafarers and fair competition become more vulnerable," ICS cautioned.
To strengthen the convention, ICS called for its full ratification by all IMO member states, and its full implementation in practice. The MLC offers seafarers a minimum wage floor, guarantees of a positive shipboard culture, freedom from abusive recruiting practices, and protection from abandonment - when enforced.
"We are against the backdrop of heightened geopolitical tension, climate transitions, and systematic pressure on global supply chains, which can have grave knock-on effects to our seafarers. They are vulnerable to decisions taken outside of the maritime sector, weakened or inconsistent applications of the MLC, and being placed in dangerous situations despite doing everything correct in their job," ICS said. "On this Day of the Seafarer, [ICS] calls on political leaders, policy makers, and senior public officials, including those outside traditional maritime portfolios, to recognize shipping and seafarers as essential to socio-economic global stability."
Given the internal and external risks, recruitment and retention can be an issue in shipping, particularly for well-trained officers. With the constant growth of the fleet, demand for STCW-trained officers has risen 23 percent in the last five years. According to ICS and BIMCO, the industry now faces a shortage of officers, and will need more than 100,000 more of them in the workforce by 2030 as the fleet continues to expand. To meet demand, the associations predict that shipping will need to add 23,000 officers and more than 8,000 ratings every year across the fleet.
"The recruitment, training and retention of the seafarer workforce will be crucial to ensuring that our industry is prepared for the future. We have a big collective task ahead of us in working with all stakeholders and the countries that are the biggest suppliers of the seafarers operating our ships," said BIMCO Secretary General & CEO David Loosley.
The opinions expressed herein are the author's and not necessarily those of The Maritime Executive.
Fuente: Maritime Executive
