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When it comes to seafarer welfare, “compliance is necessary, but it is only the starting point,” says Toh Soon Kok, Executive Director and Port Chaplain of The Mission to Seafarers Singapore (MtSS), in an interview with SeaVoices.
This perspective is vital in an industry that transports over 90 per cent of the world’s goods and fuels yet often operates far from the public eye. Across the globe, an estimated 1.89 million seafarers man approximately 74,000 ships, spending up to nine months at a time away from their families.
While regulatory frameworks have expanded significantly in recent years, covering everything from working hours to accommodation standards, something essential remains missing. “Genuine welfare is about the human experience behind the regulations,” Toh points out.
When Toh discusses the limitations of compliance-based approaches to welfare, he draws on decades of direct engagement with seafarers. His perspective challenges the assumption that creating rules and setting minimum standards alone addresses the problem. The reality he observes is more complex.
Recent data from the Seafarers Happiness Index indicate that seafarers aged 25 to 35, the demographic most critical to the industry’s future, are the largest group of respondents and the least satisfied. Senior officers, particularly captains, report the lowest happiness scores across all ranks.
Findings from Gard, the world’s largest maritime mutual P&I club and marine insurer, indicate that stress is linked to eight of the ten most common crew illnesses, and 83 per cent of recorded fatalities in 2024 were illness-related. These findings suggest a crisis that cannot be solved by regulatory compliance alone.
“Welfare cannot be reduced to whether minimum standards are met,” Toh explains. “We often see needs that are harder to measure, such as loneliness, anxiety about family back home, spiritual well-being, a sense of belonging, and simply being treated with dignity. A seafarer may have all the required provisions in place yet still feel isolated, exhausted, or forgotten.”
Toh proposes that meaningful welfare support needs to operate within an interconnected ecosystem of care. Factors such as mental health, family connectivity, dignity, and long-term security are not separate issues to be addressed in isolation. He elaborates,
“Good connectivity strengthens family relationships and supports mental well-being. Dignity comes from being respected, heard, and valued as a person rather than merely as labour. Long-term security gives seafarers confidence in their future and their families’ welfare. When any one of these areas is weakened, the effects are often felt across the others. A holistic approach recognises that welfare is not a collection of separate services but an interconnected ecosystem of care.”
While regulatory developments have made important progress, Toh suggests they remain incomplete without corresponding cultural change within maritime organisations.
“Welfare should not depend on a crisis to attract attention,” he observes. “The best support is often quiet, consistent, and preventive rather than reactive. At The Mission to Seafarers, we believe welfare should be considered in everyday operational decisions, not just during campaigns or events.”
There should be greater emphasis on shore leave, access to communication, mental health support, fair treatment, and meaningful engagement with seafarers throughout their voyages, he adds.
The path towards genuine welfare improvement requires welfare providers, such as the Mission to Seafarers, unions, shipowners, ports, and regulators, to work more collaboratively to ensure that care is integrated into the maritime ecosystem. For MtSS, this means being consistently present for seafarers, not only when something goes wrong but throughout their entire journey.
This collaborative approach suggests that no single regulation or organisation can solve the welfare challenge. It requires a coordinated commitment across the entire maritime community to prioritise the lived experience of seafarers alongside operational efficiency.
The future of the maritime industry depends on its ability to bridge the gap between compliance and genuine care. The message is clear. Maritime leaders must make a fundamental commitment to recognising seafarers, the people who sustain the industry, as human beings with dignity and worth, not simply as resources to be managed.
The question facing maritime leaders today is not whether they can afford to invest in seafarer welfare beyond compliance. It is whether they can afford not to.
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