A Study on Ship Crews Safety and Manning: Enhancing Safety and Communication in Multicultural Shipping

Abstract

Modern shipping is a highly international, multicultural and technological industry with strong demands on economic efficiency and profitability. The ship crews are multinational and a growing number of crew members come from emerging seafaring nations. Despite advances in technology, some 80 % of all accidents are, according to studies, caused by human error. This literature review focuses on safety issues related to the crews and gives examples of what kinds of errors are the most common to happen. Intercultural cooperation, communication, fatigue and the language skills of a seafarer are the most important issues that contribute to maritime safety on the individual level. The results show that more training in understanding other cultures is needed. Also improvements in teaching English to seafarers are suggested.