A hotline for sailors
In November 2020, ISWAN (International Seafarers' Welfare and Assistance Network), an NGO working on behalf of professional sailors, launched a telephone crew support service. Called Yacht Crew Help, the free platform offers trained staff to listen 24 hours a day, all year round, in any language. After almost 3 years' experience, the association has been able to make an initial assessment. By 2022, Yacht Crew Help had helped 300 sailors of 42 nationalities.
Mental health and sexual assault top the agenda
While most calls are related to contractual problems, most often unpaid wages, which account for 12.1% of calls, mental health is one of the areas of concern for the association. The subject was raised by 16.6% of seafarers calling in, and 19.1% of female seafarers. In addition to the impact of long working hours, lack of sleep and the impact of alcohol and drugs consumed on board, sexual abuse, harassment and aggression are a major issue. Among seafarers calling in with mental health problems, almost a quarter were concerned by some form of abuse.
Yachting is particularly hard hit by this phenomenon. The NGO, which has a comparable support system for commercial sailors, highlights the greater extent of harassment in yachting, where it accounts for 9.2% of calls, compared with 3% for sailors as a whole. Unsurprisingly, women are unfortunately more affected, with harassment accounting for 13.5% of calls versus 5.8% for men.
