On 25 June, The Day of the Seafarer, the world of shipping came together to celebrate the men and women who move 90% of the world’s trade. The industry showed its appreciation of its manpower by raising awareness of the hardship that seafarers face every day and of the many ways that businesses can make their time at sea better.
One programme that stood out that day was the Mentoring Seafarers Project, led by Solent University and supported by the ITF’s Seafarers’ Trust, Nautilus International, and InterManager.
“Similar to other industries, mental health is a challenge that must be supported and not ignored," notes Intermanager Secretary-General Capt. Kuba Szymanski. “It is vital that we support our seafarers to ensure they are healthy and happy while out at sea. We must appreciate the challenges that come with being a seafarer such as loneliness, unsociable hours, and in some case high stress and fatigue levels. To ensure our seafarers are doing the most effective job, it is important they are given the necessary support to overcome these."
As defined by Shea (1997), mentoring is a "fundamental form of human development where one person invests time, energy and personal know-how in assisting the growth and ability of another person".
The project aims to encourage mentoring initiatives and networks within the workplace because of its positive impact on seafarer wellness, safety culture, and developing seafarer skills. At CrewConnect Europe, KNect365 Maritime spoke to Bridget Hogan, Director of Publishing & Marketing at The Nautical Institute, about the role of mentoring programmes on board ships in bridging competence gaps and how mentoring, when done right, can have a knock-on effect on other crucial seafarer issues like wellness, retention, and career development.
Gaps in seafarer competence – Where are they?
It is no secret that the maritime industry is a challenging sector to be working in, especially in the time of digital change. Seafarers are facing stricter competence and safety regulations, while ships are adapting new devices and technologies on board that seafarers also need to master.
“We know very well that there is plenty of training”, Hogan told us. “Our view is that you have to ensure that competences not just remain, but they are built on, because the world is changing. We hear about it at every conference: automation and new technologies. So, we always say that the certificate of competence is the beginning of your career, and not the end.”
Mentoring in training & competence management
“If you look at something very practical like ship handling, mentoring has a huge role to play, but it isn’t always easy to access. Mentoring has to be encouraged from the top down. If a company doesn’t encourage mentoring, then it can be very hard for younger people to ask for it, and even for more senior officers to offer it”, Hogan explained.
In an exemplary scenario, ship handling – a task that Hogan identified as problematic because younger officers don’t get to learn it until they are in senior positions – could benefit from mentoring.
Hogan suggested to start the conversation by simply asking for mentoring, maybe like this: “Listen, sir. I’ve never done a pilot embarkation before. Please, would you let me observe one, and maybe the time after next if you are confident that I’ve absorbed enough advice from you, let me do it?”
This way not only do young officers get a chance to learn more on board, it could also provide them with motivation, which according to Hogan, is a problem on board.
“Hopefully by encouraging mentoring, we can offer people a free way to improve everybody’s motivation and apply their training. There’s a lot of training out there and there’s a lot of complex things that people on ships have to do, and help, advice, and holding hands helps people through all this to go from good to an excellent officer.”
Mentoring for wellness & retention
“I’ve been told many times by mariners that the help and intervention of another person – and it doesn’t necessarily need to be a very senior person, but it is generally someone with a little more experience than you have – has helped them, either in a pastoral sense or in a technical sense.”
For example, new cadets experiencing sea sickness, home sickness, or even just a particularly taxing shift for the first time might find it difficult to carry on. This is where mentoring, whether formal or informal, could come into play.
“Everybody is talking about retention, and this is one way to make sure that this cadet stays on that ship with that company”, Hogan demonstrated. “It gives people a little bit of insight into the future that they don’t get when they are absorbed in the past, when you’re lacking in confidence.”
