Ten years ago, the traditional job search for a seafarer began with a visit to the offices of a local agency, with physical copies of certificates and documents in hand. Today, the lockdown in cities like Manila have made it almost impossible for traditional agencies to operate as employees cannot access office spaces to process physical copies of seafarer documents. Seafarers are unable to go into testing centers to complete assessments or interviews. As a result, 200,000 seafarers are stuck on shore even when shipping companies are able to execute the complex crew changes during the pandemic.
The traditional job search has not changed despite widespread use of smartphones among seafarers today. Internet and technology access is regarded among the top amenities for seafarers. One study found that 97% of seafarers even bring their own phones on board despite going weeks at a time without cellular coverage.
Seafarers have mobile devices. International organizations are pushing for online solutions in training and testing centers, ports, and government offices. India recently launched nation-wide online examinations for seafarers in response to COVID-19. Digitization in crewing is not impending — it’s here already but it’s difficult for traditional manning agencies to adapt to the new reality.
The remote nature of a seafarer’s work has made technology more useful to them compared to other internet users.
On YouTube, seafarer vlogs have amassed thousands of subscribers. Ni Edward from #ByaheNiEdward, Ero Ancheta, and Mareen Oliquino share snippets of their travels and lives at sea. Seafarer vloggers like Jy from Jy’s Journal and Calla Ruiz from Sea Princess are raising awareness about the glory and challenges of life at sea from a female perspective. Educational channels like Chief Makoi (180K subscribers on YouTube alone) and Facebook groups like The Millennial Seafarers are educating the next wave of tech-savvy seafarers. Vlogging is a seafarer hobby that connects seafarer vloggers with friends, family, and other seafarers. It also provides many isolated seafarers a voice thousands of miles away from land.
Facebook is saturated with seafarer groups where seafarers share maritime articles, infographics, well-wishes, questions, and personal experiences. Groups like Merchant Navy Jobs and Sea Placements have 80,000+ seafarers in each group. Here, seafarers interact on an hourly basis. The Seafarers Forum and seaman’s club are two other well-managed groups with 25,000–50,000 members in each who post manuals, safety tips, and about the details of a life at sea. Seafarers from across the world are now part of these massive communities.
As seafarers continue to build learning communities online, it’s more important than ever that shipping companies and agencies also invest in their online presence to effectively engage with seafarers and increase their brand awareness within these groups.
Unlike many other professions, seafarers work for extended lengths of time without breaks. As a result, seafarers miss important events in family life. This can have a negative effect on the mental health and morale of seafarers while they are at sea and when they return home. The use of technology has helped many seafarers mitigate this by allowing them to connect and to be virtually present. While away from home, seafarers use Facebook to stay in touch with families and friends, stay current on news from their homelands and communities, and share memories of their travels. At sea or on shore, 80% of the 1.5 million seafarers worldwide are active users of social media platforms like Facebook. Although a stable WiFi connection is rare at sea, companies who offer such amenities have higher conversion and retention rates (as much as 83% retention in some cases).
After spending months at a time with crew members, seafarers also use social media to connect and stay in touch with crew mates.
At Seafair, we launched a Faces of Seafair initiative to showcase one seafarer per week. We tell their story to the maritime community and share photographs from their journey. It is important for the people who supply the world to also share their stories with the world and to have thousands of people with similar backgrounds hear, see, and react to it. Seafarers and friends of seafarers visit these stories to learn more about the challenges seafarers face, congratulate them on career accomplishments, and thank them for their service.
On the Day of the Seafarer (Friday, June 25th, 2020), tens of thousands of people posted their appreciation for seafarers and what they do using hashtags like #seafarers and #maritime. Each year, the International Maritime Organization leads a campaign, and this year’s was #SeafarersAreKeyWorkers. Using media, seafarer organizations were able to influence governments and companies and bring awareness about crew changes during the pandemic.
Digitally native seafarers are more likely to be effective in their jobs.
As ships evolve to maximize operational efficiency amidst intense competition, they reach higher levels of technology sophistication. An average seafarer on a contemporary vessel today will be exposed to a variety of advanced technologies aboard. From e-navigation tools like ECDIS and AIS to electronic engines and automated cargo control systems, the seafarer must be able to handle data from multiple sources, be adaptable to constantly changing interfaces, and even know the dangers of cyber-hacking regardless of rank.
Simultaneously, increasing international maritime regulations pressure shipping companies into adapting safer systems. Ships are equipped with multitudes of sensors and part-autonomous programs that decrease the number collisions at sea. Even ports have adopted greener, safer, and pandemic-friendly solutions, eliminating paper billing, replacing harbour pilots and terminal operators with digital dashboards, and using remote-controlled cranes.
Digitally native seafarers are already used to digital multitasking. They communicate using various methods and with people from across the globe, pull information from different forms of media, are net-smart with their information, and stay current on new technologies.
Most costs incurred by shipping companies arise from accidents. Even when new systems are implemented, they need to be handled by seafarers who can focus on critical issues despite the various alarms and distractions on board. Not only will shipping companies save millions of dollars by avoiding mishandling-related accidents, but they will also need to invest less on training seafarers to use new systems. The modern ship is already more familiar to digitally native seafarers.
Shipping companies will win the crewing battle if they are ready to go digital.
At Seafair, we are following a digital approach to connect shipping companies to seafarers. As we explained in our previous post, we are doing this to help seafarers find the jobs they deserve. But we are also going digital to make sure that our clients will get access to the best possible seafarers in the market. We have built strong digital channels on Google, Facebook and Linkedin to ensure that we are top-of-mind there when seafarers are looking for their next job at sea.
In the Philippines alone, there are more than 60,000 searches for variations of the term “seaman jobs” (Source: Seafair’s Google Adwords analysis). A digitally native platform like Seafair has a unique advantage in accessing the seafarers exactly at the right time and providing a streamlined and transparent job search process for every seafarer when they are looking for their next contract.
Digital recruitment also allows us to meet nationality and talent demands by accessing a strong international pool. At the same time, thanks to the global applications of digital recruitment, the job search standards are much higher in order to comply with international regulations set forth by the ILO compared to the job search standards at local agencies.
The global approach provides flexibility for seafarers and shipping companies alike instead of requiring long-term commitment to sets of seafarers who may not all meet qualifications or shipping companies which may not provide acceptable working conditions. By replacing existing geographically-bound agencies with a universal solution for recruitment, we are able to efficiently allocate human resources and allow the shipping industry to advance.
This post was written by Anthony Valente, MBA student at Harvard Business School and Sanja Kirova, Undergraduate Engineering student at Columbia University. Both are among Seafair’s first joiners.
