Crew Welfare and Content: Morale, Wellbeing, and Retention

Crew wellbeing is becoming increasingly important, as many shipping companies realize that crew morale directly impacts safety, efficiency, workload, and retention. One issue that directly affects morale is crew interaction and isolation. Research such as the Seafarers Happiness Index from The Mission to Seafarers reports that the crew interaction score has improved. However, many crew members still feel isolated due to time away from family and friends.

Gone are the days of the ship’s onboard bar, where crew often spent time socializing. Onboard bars were removed for safety reasons, but this has led to further isolation, with many crew members spending time alone in their cabins when they’re not working. Limited internet on many vessels compounds the problem, leaving crew unable to stay in contact with family or up to date with news from home.

Today, seafarers are likely to consider the availability of essential amenities, such as connectivity and access to onboard content, before deciding to join a ship. Onboard content is no longer a luxury. It’s an expectation, and it now plays a direct role in recruiting and retaining crew.

Content includes any media seafarers can consume onboard, such as movies, TV series, music, news, live terrestrial channels, sports, podcasts, karaoke, viral content, and wellbeing content, including meditation. Imagine living and working at sea for months at a time with no entertainment or news to keep you in the loop with what’s happening at home. By bringing fresh content on board, fleets and vessel operators give seafarers a variety of media to enjoy while off watch. This helps with mental health and boredom and serves as a vital tool for building friendships on board, which helps overcome the isolation of working at sea.

So, what types of content help with crew morale and isolation? At KVH, we have found that content in crew members’ primary languages, such as Greek and Filipino, is very popular. Spoken word or subtitles in their own language let crew enjoy news and entertainment more easily and with less frustration.

Movies from the crew’s home countries, such as Bollywood cinema, are also popular, particularly during a crew movie night. We may watch movies in the dark, but we go to the movies for the shared experience: hearing others laugh, clap, and cheer. A crew content solution that encourages shared viewing will help reduce boredom and isolation on board. At the same time, the best content services also let individual crew members watch in their own cabins, because everyone needs time to unwind on their own.

Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite networks now bring a home internet experience to sea. Crew on LEO-equipped vessels can video call family, scroll social media, and even stream content. But while LEO is fast, streaming can burn through data just as fast, making it easy for fleet operators to run into data overage.

In addition, residential streaming services add complexity, as they have their own rules governing how individuals, groups, and IP addresses can access their content. When traveling or working at sea, these content services require compliance with alternative licenses to be viewed legally.

Cybersecurity is another concern. Crew often bring their own USB drives onboard full of content. While this may seem harmless, the content is often downloaded from sites that are hotspots for viruses and malware. Once onboard, the USB drive becomes a threat vector that increases risk to the vessel, crew, operations, and business systems.

The easiest, most affordable, and least data-hungry option is a dedicated maritime content service that delivers a wide range of content with all commercial maritime licenses in place, a cybersecurity-first philosophy, and flexible viewing options ranging from TVs in communal spaces to individual smartphones, tablets, and laptops. One such option is the award-winning KVH Link content service.

KVH Link offers flexibility in how content is delivered and consumed. KVH Link’s over-the-air service for the linkHUB Media Server enables vessels to receive daily news, sports, and entertainment updates via virtually any onboard network, including VSAT, Starlink, OneWeb, or 5G/cellular. For vessels that choose not to receive daily updates, the linkHUB Media Server can be updated regularly with movies and TV programs via secure data drives shipped to the vessel’s next port of call.

On-demand content is stored onboard in the linkHUB Media Server for all crew to access on TVs in the crew mess or other common areas, on laptops, tablets, and smartphones, or through a dedicated, feature-packed app. Because all content is stored onboard, viewing doesn’t draw on the vessel’s satellite data, and the experience on the modern, mobile-friendly interface is outstanding, with no download lag, buffering, or jitter. Live channels are transmitted using advanced transcoding technology that minimizes bandwidth without compromising the viewing experience.

KVH Link content includes the most sought-after live terrestrial TV channels, hundreds of daily news stories, clips, TV shows, early-release movies, classics from Hollywood to Bollywood, independent studio films, sports coverage, music radio, karaoke, and trending social videos. Recognizing the diversity among seafarers, daily news is available in more than 20 languages with country-specific editions, TV news in 9 languages, and blockbuster movies with subtitles in 9 languages. KVH Link also includes crew wellbeing content from Learning Seaman, a leading premium provider, with video-based wellbeing programs, expert-led wellness clips, and mental health-focused content. Cost-effective bundles allow ship managers to meet both crew preferences and company budgets. Plus, KVH Link content is licensed from copyright holders with permission for onboard viewing.

Content plays a crucial role in crew morale, wellbeing, and retention. Focusing on these issues helps shipping companies recruit and retain their workforce, improve morale and performance, and provide vital support for seafarers’ mental health.

This article is sponsored by KVH Industries. To learn more about the issues discussed here or KVH’s content solutions, visit kvh.com/link.