ISWAN's 2024-25 Annual Review: 5,520 Seafarers Helped, and What They Needed Most

ISWAN's 2024-25 Annual Review reports 5,520 seafarers and family members assisted across 100 nationalities, handling 9,878 calls and messages over the year — with 84% of cases handled in-house, including the multi-week and multi-month cases that need sustained care from a dedicated helpline officer.

What Seafarers Are Actually Contacting ISWAN About

Across general shipping, the primary issues were employment and contractual disputes (16%), living conditions and onboard culture (12%), recruitment and certification challenges (11%), and mental health (9%). None of these are single-incident problems — they're the kind of slow-building pressure that a welfare charity, not a formal complaint process, is often the first place someone will actually talk about.

A New Focus: Support From Home

ISWAN's Family Outreach Programme (FOP), launched in India and the Philippines, reflects a growing recognition that crew resilience depends heavily on what's happening at home, not just on board. The programme reached over 1,100 family members in its first phase — and ISWAN also secured official business registration in the Philippines and signed a Memorandum of Understanding with India's Directorate General of Shipping, both steps toward a more durable legal footing for welfare work in the two largest labour-supplying nations.

The Bigger Argument

ISWAN's own framing is worth repeating: seafarer welfare can no longer be treated as a secondary operational cost. It's a core pillar of safety, retention and commercial viability — not a nice-to-have sitting alongside the real business of running a ship.

Test Your Knowledge

Think you've got this covered? Put it to the test in Crew Connect's free Knowledge Checker — try a quick MLC/welfare round and see how you score.

Related Reading

• Seafarer Welfare Charities and Support Organisations: A Complete Guide
• Sailors' Society's Sea Mate: Training a Wellbeing Officer for Every Ship