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Klaveness Ship Management ‘Touches Base’ with sailors and families at home

On January 31st 2022, Klaveness Ship Management (KSM) teamed up with ISWAN (International Seafarers Welfare and Assistance Network) to host a private webinar that connected with sailors and their families at home on the issue of mental health and wellbeing. The event was a part of our ‘Touch Base’ program, an initiative established in April 2020 to maintain regular interaction with all sailors.

Rigorous testing and tough isolation periods takes its toll

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, KSM has had a stringent COVID Management Plan in place to ensure our vessels can stay free of the virus. The plan has imposed strict isolation at hotels in The Philippines, Romania, and South Africa; with PCR tests required when checking in and out prior to departure in the country of domicile.

PCR tests and isolation are also required at the country of embarkation. The demanding routine means seafarers must endure a minimum of 10 days of isolation per work period before being cleared for entry or departure.

Touching Base

At the same time the management plan was conceived, the ‘Touch Base’ concept was initiated to facilitate digital meetings with all sailors in isolation, three days a week, regardless of location. The purpose is to keep all sailors regularly in touch with Klaveness to voice any concerns, stay updated on recent developments and planned activities at the company, or simply to maintain some regular ‘face-to-face’ conversations.

In 2021, a total of 99 Touch Base sessions were held bringing together close to 3000 participants.

Inviting seafarers and their families

The most recent ‘Touch Base’ session invited sailors and their families to join us from their homes and saw KSM and ISWAN hold a session dedicated to mental health and wellbeing. The topics explored included managing personal health dilemmas, general coping techniques, and invited sailors to share their experiences over the past 22 months.

We were delighted to see that the turnout was close to 40% of all sailors and families located in The Philippines.

KSM’s VP of Maritime Personnel Torbjørn Eide comments, “I firmly believe seafarers are among the most adaptive and resilient workers of our time, their ability to endure protracted periods away from their homes and families is truly admirable and I do also admire the courage and commitment shown by our Klaveness families back home. The vaccination program is ongoing, and we have booster doses being set whenever we reach a port where that is available. The ambition is to have a 100% vaccination rate as it is the best protection our sailors can have against the virus, and we also see it as a commercial and business necessity.”
Source: Klaveness Ship Management

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