A temperature reading of South African seafarer well-being during the Covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

This article provides an overview of the state of South African seafarers’ well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. Empirical work on African and South African seafarers’ well-being during the pandemic is limited, with most work focusing on seafarers from major seafaring labour supply countries such as the Philippines and seafarers from the global North. This intervention, by focusing on South African seafarers, helps reduce the knowledge gap of seafarer well-being among less studied seafaring nationalities such as South Africans. A temperature reading research design was used. A form of action research, temperature readings are designed to tap into social phenomena during times of crisis, so as to provide a quick empirical snapshot of a specific research problem. Such an approach is less concerned with theory building and more concerned with profiling a particular sample and population. Purposeful and snowballing sampling was utilized to target seafarers and included 164 respondents. Data were analysed using SPSS. Key findings of the study indicated that 13.25% of the sample had contracted COVID19, 39.76% of the sample had crew members who had COVID-19 and 28.92% of the sample had family members who had COVID19. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic had a negative impact on 42.17% of the sample, while 34.94% of the sample reported that the COVID-19 pandemic had no impact on their salary. Participants were satisfied with COVID-19 protocols implemented by their employers. Their well-being scores across social, psychological, subjective and workplace dimensions were moderate.