Work-related stress in the merchant seafaring

The job-demands for the seafarer in the merchant shipping are very complex. The ship's crew is still subject to a strong shipboard hierarchic structure in which the individual work-related stress load depends on the personal task profile. In the past decades, the seafarers' working and living situation has been distinctly affected by increasing economic expectations and growing automation of the ship's operation. The average crewing manning has considerably decreased in the course of the past years, in spite of an increase of the vessels' cargo-handling. Furthermore, the stays in port of merchant vessels have been distinctly shortened due to high costs. In consequence, the crews have less often experienced opportunities for social contacts (e.g. to family or friends). This has been further exacerbated by the International Ship and Port Security Code (ISPS-Code) coming into force since 2004. Due to contract durations over normally several months, the crew members are often separated from their families and friends for long periods of time. The shipboard social situation has also distinctly changed in the past decades. The nowadays usually found multicultural shipping crews promote the development of group separation and isolation. In addition, the working situation in the merchant shipping is characterized e.g. by the permanent exposure to environmental factors and by a high leadership responsibility of the superiors. This may lead to an increased shipboard strain by fatigue or by high accidents rates. In total, seafaring occupation is very demanding for the seafarers in many respects. It is a current challenge for the maritime medicine to find the main reasons for this and to develop promising concepts for prevention. Therefore, specific recommendations have been developed to avoid excessive or improper stress aboard; these recommendations need to be tested in intervention studies.