Why seafarers quit sailing despite corpulent pay

DESPITE the fat pay package, oppor­tunity to globetrot and adventurous working environment, a good number of seafarers leave their jobs yearly to accept other opportunities onshore. This may sound awkward but it is true. Every year, maritime institutes around the world churn out thousands of fresh deck cadets and marine engineers. Though the jobs are not in abundance, especially in Nigeria, a good number of these young graduates work for a few years and suddenly quit their respect­able and lucrative career.
According to a survey conducted by Marine Insight, some of the reasons this habit is commonplace include:
Unsettled lifestyle
This is the most common and obvi­ous reason as these days more seafarers want “settled” jobs onshore. At the start of the career, a seafarer would not mind having a “nomadic” kind of lifestyle, but after some years, especially post marriage, he longs for a more stable lifestyle, especially with his family. This is definitely not a new reason behind seafarers quitting sea jobs, but it is still one of the prime considerations for pro­fessional dissatisfaction.
Hectic life
One cannot deny the fact that life on board ships is often extremely hectic. With more stringent maritime regula­tions coming up each year, life as a sea­farer has become increasingly hectic, laborious, and monotonous. Increase in paperwork, advanced training guide­lines, new codes, and rigorous safety and environmental laws have made the lives of seafarers extremely hectic on board ships. Moreover, many seafar­ers have also stated poor management of manpower onboard ships as a reason for increase in work load. Needless to say, the already hectic life on ships is becoming even more hectic every year.
Onboard politics
No matter how hard you try to stay away from professional or personal politics onboard ships, it will get to you sooner or later. Politics and conflicts on ships not only make it difficult to work but also to socialize within the already small group of people onboard. Moreover, there is a very thin line be­tween professional and personal life on ships. This makes it even more difficult to avoid as well as deal with politics or conflicts arising as a result of differences in opinions. This is more pronounced when the crew is made up of Christians and Muslims. One needs great determination, patience, and skills to deal with difficult people onboard ships, especially after having professional/personal or religious argu­ments.
Lack of social life
Almost everyone who joins ships is brought up in a social environment since birth. When such people are suddenly exposed to confined spaces of ships with almost negligible social life, negative effects such as frustra­tion, loneliness, and homesickness start taking a toll on them. Initially the life on ship might not seem bad, but as time passes, a sense of emptiness starts creeping in. Lack of interaction with people and limitations on physical movement make life more miserable on board. It takes a lot of courage and mental steadiness to keep a calm and focused mind on ship. Many seafarers eventually quit because of this reason.
Away from the family
Though most of the seafarers can digest the fact of staying away from friends for few months when sail­ing, parting away from the family for months together is what tears their hearts apart. Some might have just started their married life while others would have recently experienced par­enthood, missing those precious mo­ments with their loved ones for whom they care the most, is what hurts sea­farers to the core. No seafarer wants to miss spending time with his wife or see his son or daughter grow old without him being around. It is then that seafarers realize the importance of “family life” and “loved ones”. The pain of staying away for months is also one of the main reasons seafarers quit sea jobs.
Rise in maritime piracy
Though several steps have been tak­en lately to fight piracy at sea, incidents involving pirate attacks and high-jack­ing of ship’s crew occur almost every month. The threat of piracy attacks is ever increasing and seafarers are obvi­ously scared in spite of availability of weapons to fight them. No one wants to risk their lives or put themselves in danger by sailing on ships which ply in piracy affected areas. The fear of pi­rates is also stated as one of the many reasons seafarers are leaving ship jobs.