10 common reasons why seafarers quit shipboard job
A cadet on a maritime school aspires to become a good seafarer someday. With his learned knowledge he strives to embark onboard a ship in a good company. Working onboard the ship for more than 6 months even up to 1 year gives him a chance to upgrade his profession and for possible promotion as an officer. After a few years of working onboard the ship he suddenly decides to stop and start to work on land. Nobody knows the reason why.
Why choose to work at sea?
Many seafarers are like the example above. A lot of reason may contribute to a person’s decision of becoming a seafarer. I can still remember the question that my Captain asks me during my cadet days. “Why you choose to become a seafarer”? I give him a quick answer, “I want to become rich”. He said to me that if every seafarer would give the same reason that I did, it would be a selfish answer.
“The reason that we choose to become a seafarer is to give our family a better life and to encourage other mariners to become good at their job as a seafarer”.
Those are the humble words of the captain that I was lucky enough to serve with. The life onboard the ship cannot be compared on the life on land. We do our job in a more difficult environment. We seldom see the land. We expose ourselves to different kinds of weather. We see the same person every day. We work with different types of people in different countries. We work under pressure. So why choose to work at sea? It’s simply because we like the challenge and the adventure behind our work.
Why quit your job at sea?
Various reasons contribute to the seafarer’s decision of leaving the ship. A lot of person consider it personal or work related reasons. Here are 10 common reasons why they decide to leave the ship.
- They were given a chance to work in a shipping company
- They had a very bad experience onboard their previous ship
- They had a problem with their wife that leads to divorce and could not handle the problem, which leads to the decision of stopping his profession as a seafarer
- They manage to find an alternative job in land with almost the same salary of his job on the ship
- They were given an opportunity to work on land related to shipping and maritime industry
- Their wife and family doesn’t want them to work onboard anymore
- They were homesick
- A member of their family died while they are still onboard the ship and this became a very bad experience that they can never erase from their minds.
- They started a business and became successful
- They won in a lottery
Is there an option to work on land?
There are a lot of options that a seafarer can work on land and quit shipboard job. But it doesn’t necessarily mean that you can become successful. It’s the level of success that you desire that matters. You can read the stories behind the seafarers who decided to quit shipboard job on this link.
Have your say
As a seafarer we always think of our future. We talk a lot about our retirement and how we’d like to spend it. Finding an option so you can quit your shipboard job in order to work on land would be a tough decision. You must prepare yourself to whatever circumstances that may arise. If you have any ideas that you would like to contribute or share to our fellow seafarer who plans to quit their shipboard job, you can write your comment and be heard. Share us your opinion so we could benefit from it too. You can bookmark this article for future reading.
Click Maritime Guide for more topics/videos, or visit Pinoy Maritime Forum.
Tags: adventure, aid, answer, article, bad experience, better life, Bloggers, business, cadet, cannot, Captain, challenge, chance, day, decision, different kinds, divorce, environment, example, family, Forum, good company, homesick, humble words, job, land, learned knowledge, level, lot, lottery, mariners, maritime, maritime industry, maritime school, member, Nobody, officer, onboard, opportunity, option, person, personal, Pinoy, pressure, problem, profession, promotion, question, reason, sea, seafarer, seafarers, ship, shipboard, shipping company, visit, weather, wife, work, year
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08:21 PM
Jul 28th
2008
[…] Pinoy Maritime has a pretty obvious list once you think about it in “10 common reasons why seafarers quit shipboard job“. […]
10:33 AM
Dec 11th
2008
Great post! Keep up the good work!
07:37 PM
Jan 18th
2009
I was a seafarer not for so long, simply because of the stuff happening on the ship that we, seafarers, are not allowed to speak out. Specially on our part, female seafarers, we encounter the same tough pressure on board but we get more pressured than men. Why? because we are always the victim of harassment, whether sexually or corporate harassment its always us, females, are the easiest target.
I admire female seafarers that survived the pressure on board, they are really tough and strong, or they force themselves to adapt to the ‘on board environment’ well, if you are a seafarer you know what i mean. Most of the time, than not seafarers that can’t adapt that environment, can’t survive.
Speaking out on board doesn’t work often, maybe for some lucky seafarers once in a blue moon, but when you are on board it seems like you’re in different world. NO JUSTICE, NO CONTRACT THAT APPLIES. Its almost slavery. It reminds me of Amistad though. Sad truth, but it’s still happening.
05:44 AM
Feb 2nd
2009
we use to have a naval school in Mar del Plata (Argentina) but not anymore
Now a lot of people that worked there are jobless and it’s not a nice situation. Thanks god the fishing port is working fine
Best regards
02:30 PM
Mar 12th
2009
great post! nakaka-home sick nga naman ang nasa dagat. family matters really matters. i agree with reason number 9. share ko din itong forum from pinoymoneytalk.com para sa mga gustong gawin ang number 9. thanks!
10:27 PM
Apr 8th
2009
It’s like any job, really. You have to work with the same people day in and day out, the only difference being you can’t get away from them by going home at night. It could be miserable with the wrong people, or a great experience with the right team.
09:50 PM
May 13th
2009
i made all my decision to have a bachelor’s degree in marine transportation, for me to become not an ordinary seafarer officer someday, but as well as to become a channel of good work here in the philippines and abroad. i actually believe that a good and well maintained character of a good seafarer will lead to a brighter future to those who are interested to enroll as Marine Transportation students.
i would like to suggest that we, currently and incoming seafarer employee, as well as the employer would exert effort in handling the cadet/apprenticeship program for newly grad for them to have an experience on-board ship. hope this comment will help us in pursuing a bright future in our field, the seafarer family!
11:36 AM
Jul 27th
2009
it is really hard to Quit Smoking. currently, i am using Nicotine Patches to curb may addiction to smoking and nicotine.
09:33 PM
Oct 7th
2009
how is the life of a mariners on board?
05:41 PM
Dec 7th
2009
“The reason that we choose to become a seafarer is to give our family a better life and to encourage other mariners to become good at their job as a seafarer”.- its really nice! very much FILIPINO! I like this one. It was really hard working on board but it is for your family!