Maritime charities attract top industry speakers to share views on seafarers’ welfare on the inaugural day of London International Shipping Week

As the industry looks back on a hugely challenging year for seafarers, the four maritime charities will come together at Inmarsat to explore how technology will shape the future for seafarers’ welfare. The Mission to Seafarers in collaboration with The Seafarers’ Charity, Stella Maris and Sailors’ Society will be fielding their CEOs on each of the four panels.

This half-day afternoon conference, ‘Meeting the needs of seafarers in a digital age’, will be held on Monday 13 September both as an in-person and virtual format. It will be chaired by John Adams, Managing Director of V Ships UK, who also serves as Chair of the Bahamas Shipowners Association and Vice-Chair of the International Chamber of Shipping,

Dr Grahaeme Henderson, Chair of Together in Safety and Nick Chubb, Founder of Thetius will give keynote speeches. Panel Speakers include James Muir, CCO Ship Management, V.Ships, Mark O’Neil, Columbia Ship Management , Ronald Spithout, Inmarsat Maritime and David Gooberman, Isle of Man Ship Registry.

The first panel will focus on how companies responded to changing welfare needs during 2020 and the measures which will retain best practices going forward, whilst the second panel will discuss how to boost mental health digitally.

This will be then followed by a session on what investment is needed in crew technology to provide for better welfare provision, what are the obstacles and how this will impact on the bottom line. The final discussion will look at technology collaboration as a means of delivering seafarer services .

Conference Chairman John Adams is expecting this to be a highly interactive conference that creates important industry dialogue.

Speaking ahead of the upcoming conference, John Adams, said: “The pandemic wreaked havoc on shipping’s most important asset, its people. With this event, we hope to highlight and encourage all industry stakeholders – including ship owners, managers, charterers – to work together as a community to ensure that seafarer welfare is a priority for now and the future.

“As we continuously grasp the importance of technology as a tool for support during this trialling time for seafarers, we hope that many can join us for this insightful event so we can learn from each other and pin down the best method to ensure seafarer welfare is at the top of the agenda for both the industry and governments.”

The conference is free and can be attended both physically and virtually. To find out more about the event, the full agenda and details on how to register, please visit; https://www2.inmarsat.com/lisw-2021-crew-welfare
Source: Inmarsat