1

INSIGHT IN SHIP CREWS

MULTICULTURALISM AND MARITIME SAFETY

Jenni Storgrd
*

Nora Berg
**

Olli-Pekka Brunila
***


*) University of Turku, Centre for Maritime Studies, Heikinkatu 7, 48100 Kotka, Finland
E-mail: [email protected], Tel+358 40 5249839
**) University of Helsinki
E-mail: [email protected]
***) University of Turku, Centre for Maritime Studies, Heikinkatu 7, 48100 Kotka, Finland
E-mail: [email protected], Tel: +358 40 4855710

ABSTRACT
Purpose
Modern shipping is a highly international, multicultural and technological industry with
strong demands on economic efficiency and profitability. Even due to advances in
technology some 80 % of all accidents are according to studies caused by human error.
This paper focuses on safety issues related to the multicultural crews and gives examples
of how nationality and national cultures affects maritime safety.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on literature review and on the sample of crew nationalities visiting
Finnish ports. The survey was based on crew lists entered in the national database Portnet.
Findings
On the basis of literature review, intercultural cooperation, communication and the
language skills are the most important issues that contribute to maritime safety in case of
multicultural crews. The results show that more training in understanding other cultures is
needed. Also improvements in teaching English to seafarers are suggested. It is believed
that well-being of seafarers also enhances safety of shipping. The survey showed that in
the studied area only 15% of ship crews consist of one nationality. Majority of ships have
three or two different nationalities in crew. Philippine seamen constitute remarkable share
of crews both in officers and in other crew besides Finnish seafarers.
Research limitations/implications (if applicable)
The paper is authors first step in the study crew issues and deeper research in the subject
is needed. The size of the survey is limited, so the results cant be generalized.
Practical implications (if applicable)
The wellbeing of seafarers could be improved, as well as safety of shipping.
Original/value
The paper includes statistics about the nationalities of seafarers in ships which visit Finnish
ports.
Keywords: seafarers, multiculturalism, social well-being, maritime safety

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1. INTRODUCTION
Shipping is one of the most globalised industries in the world economy and the leading means
of transport (Ljung 2010; Gekara 2008). In total, about 80 % of foreign trade is made by
marine transport (e.g. European Union 2009). Shipping is a highly international, multicultural
and technological industry and it faces strong demands on economic efficiency and
profitability (Hanzu-Pazara & Arsenie 2010; Ljung 2010).
These reasons have led to a globalized labor market of seafarers and to ship crews that are
more and more multinational. About 70-80 % of worlds merchant fleet has multicultural
crews (Magramo & Cellada 2009; Pyne & Koester 2005). Multicultural crews and a possible
lack of a common language have produced a rising worry of the competence of ship crews.
This is of crucial interest especially when technological advances have cut down the number
of crewmembers, from what used to be 40-50 to about 20-25 even on large carriers (Ljung
2010).
The research of operational and human aspects of maritime safety is of growing interest. The
worry of maritime safety has caused a growing demand for research in what kinds of
competences the crews operating the seas have. The question is inevitable especially when it
concerns areas with a high risk of accidents. The Baltic Sea is an area with a lot of traffic and
shallow waters. The concern for competent crews able to handle their ships in the difficult
conditions characteristic to the area is evident.
There are several reasons for why the seafarers of today appear to be among the pawns of
globalization. One reason is that the demand for logistics is global due to markets that do not
care about borders. That crews have become part of a global market is inevitably a question of
money. A study published in Marine Policy (Silos et al. 2012) states that it is hard for the
owner to regulate fuel, insurance and port dues among others whereas crew costs are regarded
as variable costs and can therefore be reduced by the owner. Also a new philosophy arising
in the sector states that vessel maintenance has become a lower priority.
According to Silos et al. 2012, the cost of the crew is about 15 % of the total costs of handling
a ship. According to Stopford (2009), the crew cost can be up to 42 % of the ships operating
costs. The operating cost of a ship varies according to the ships age and size and the
nationality of the crew. It can vary between about 20 and 40 % of the total operating costs
depending on the age of the ship. Crew costs also vary according to the flag of the ship.
Stopford (2009) states that a crew member sailing on a vessel under the European flag can
cost twice as much as a vessel registered under an open flag such as Liberia, Panama or
Singapore.
Another reason for the growing numbers of international crews is the social aspect. The rising
standard of living in the industrialized countries, such as Western Europe, the US and J apan
causes changes is the global maritime market for seafarers. When a country undergoes
economic growth, it will require migrant labor. This is because its citizens have more
possibilities for education and therefore a chance for advancement in careers. This results in a
shortage of labor doing certain types of jobs, the so called 3-D: dirty, dangerous and difficult
(Galam 2011). The recruitment of seafarers has become a major problem for shipping (Ljung
2010). The fact that the time that vessels spend in port is cut to minimum, the decreasing sizes
of crews and a growing list of responsibilities has made the profession of seaman less and less
attractive especially for citizens of highly developed countries (Silos et al. 2012).
The purpose of this paper is to provide a review on studies that concern multicultural crews
and maritime safety issues. The purpose of the review is to look at how the relationship
3
between multiculturalism of crews and maritime safety has been studied so far. In addition,
the paper contains the results of a survey on crew list information of ships visiting certain
Finnish ports. The aim of the survey is to provide information about how multicultural crews
in the Gulf of Finland/the Baltic Sea actually are. The paper has been produced as part of the
project which concentrates on the risks of maritime oil transportation in the Gulf of Finland
and in the Baltic Sea (MIMIC project).
The structure of the paper is as follows. Section 2 shortly presents the legislation on manning
of ships and competence of crews as background information. Section 3 reviews the previous
studies on the subject. Section 4 includes the results of a survey on crew information. In the
end, the paper discusses what kind of implications can be made on the basis of the survey
when compared to the state-of-the-art research on the multiculturalism and maritime safety,
and if and how multiculturalism of crews should be studied in more depth.
2. LEGISLATION ON MANNING OF SHIPS AND ON COMPETENCY
OF SEAFARERS
To ensure crews are competent and have proper education for ships plying international
waters, the International Maritime Organization (IMO 2004) has adopted qualification
standards for seafarers on merchant ships. These standards set the framework for how ships
are manned and what kind of qualifications and education is required from seafarers.
The International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watch keeping for
Seafarers (STCW) sets basic requirements for training and certification in international
seafaring. The STCW had in year 2011 altogether 134 parties, which represent a majority of
the world shipping tonnage (IMO 2011a). The instructions for the proper manning of ships
are stated in the IMO resolution on the principles of safe manning A.890 (21) (IMO 2000). It
states that there should be enough crew on board a merchant ship to have the capability of
maintaining safely the navigation, mooring, environment, fire prevention and fighting,
medical care, life-saving equipment and cargo handling of the ship.
SOLAS (International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea) from 1974 is applied for the
manning and training of seafarers (SOLAS chapter V, regulation 15). STCW is also the prime
authority on training. The STCW, too, applies to ship-owners, training establishments and
national maritime administrations and it concerns merchant ships in domestic or international
operations. The convention applies separate requirements for each position on board a ship. It
specifies the amount of seagoing experience a master of a ship has to have, the certificate of
education and training and the age of the seafarer. It also states that all officers must have a
good command of spoken and written English. Senior officers with functions at a managerial
level must also speak and write English. Crew members in lower positions are required to be
able to comply with helm orders issued in English (Obando-Rojas 2002). The STCW standard
specifies a required level of fluency in the ship's declared working language that each
employee must speak to a certain level (Hetherington et al. 2006). The so called Manila
amendments were adopted in 2010 as an addition to the convention (IMO 2011b).
The IMO conventions and regulations are not binding in the member states until they have
been ratified. The IMO regulations and conventions serve as the basis when member states
write their own national acts for shipping and the ships flying their flags.
The Finnish act on Ships' Crews and the Safety Management of Ships (1687/2009) states that
every ship shall be manned in such a manner that the ship, crew, passengers, cargo, other
property or the environment are not needlessly put at risk and that the qualifications of the
crew shall be such as to enable the proper performance of all watch keeping duties on board
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( 5). It also states that certificates of competency are issued by the Finnish Transport Safety
Agency, where provided that the applicant meets the requirements with respect to age,
medical fitness, knowledge and skills, training and experience ( 17). About the working
language on board the act notes that all seafarers shall have a sufficient understanding of the
working language and that safety instructions shall be issued in that language ( 25).
According to the Finnish maritime law, in ships flying under the Finnish flag, the captain has
to be a citizen of a country in either the European Union or the European Economic area. In
comparison, for example, in Russia the captain or first officer has to be Russian (Russian code
for Merchant vessels 2011, article 56).
3. MULTICULTURAL CREWS AND MARITIME SAFETY
Studies on accidents (i.e. Baylon & Santos 2011; Kujala et al. 2009; Mrtensson 2006;
Rothblum 2000) show that the ship crew is the highest risk factor when it comes to maritime
safety since approximately 80-90 % of maritime accidents are caused by human error. The
role of crews on the bridge has changed in terms of advances in technology and in the way of
manning ships due to the employment of multinational crews (The Nautical Institute 2012).
This makes the impact of humans in the maritime safety system evident.
For this study a number of studies concerning crew and safety issues were surveyed. A
summary of these can be found in Table 3.1. In the following sub-chapters, some studies are
presented in more detail. Studies are presented under following categorization of most
common themes found in them: the effect of national culture on maritime safety and
multiculturalism on board, communication issues and education and training.

Table 3.1 Summary of studies on crew and maritime safety
Authors Type of
publication/published in
Subject of study Central theme of the
study
Barsan et al
(2012)
J ournal article/International
J ournal on Marine
Navigation and Safety of
Sea Transportation
Training as a subject of
competitiveness
Education
Baylon &
Santos
(2011)
J ournal article/International
J ournal of Innovative
Interdisciplinary Research
How Filipino seafarers affect the
global markets
Seafarer markets
Benton
(2005)
Conference
paper/International
Association of Maritime
Universities (IAMU) 6th
Annual General Assembly
and Conference
Problems at sea caused by
multicultural crews
Multiculturalism
Grn &
Knudsen
(2011)
Research report/the Danish
International Ship Register
The differences between Danish
and Filipino seafarers
Multiculturalism
Hansen et al.
(2008)
J ournal article/International
Maritime Health
Comparison of the health of the
two groups of seafarers
Maritime health
Hetherington
et al. (2006)
J ournal article/J ournal of
Safety Research
How humans affect maritime
safety
Human factor
Horck PhD thesis/Malm Cultural matters in maritime Multiculturalism
5
(2010) University training
Horck
(2006)
Licentiate thesis/Malm
University
Communication among
international students
Communication
Hvold
(2007)

J ournal article/Work &
Stress

The association between
national culture and the safety
orientation of seafarers on
Norwegian-owned vessels
Multiculturalism
Lu et al.
(2012)
J ournal article/Accident
Analysis and Prevention

Effects of national culture on
human failures in container
shipping
Multiculturalism
Mrtensson
(2006)
PhD thesis/Lule tekniska
universitet
Understanding the problems tied
to safety by utilizing an
organizational perspective
Multiculturalism
Popescu et
al.(2010)

Conference
paper/Advances in
maritime and naval science
and engineering, Romania,
September 2010
Communication in a language
that is not the native one for
many seafarers
Communication
Pyne &
Koester
(2005)
J ournal article/The
Archives of Transport
Communication of crews Communication
Rothblum
(2000)

Congress paper/ The
National Safety Council
Congress and Expo,
Orlando 2000
Human error such as
communication and situation
awareness
Human factor,
communication
Sampson &
Wu (2007)
Conference paper/ SIRCs
seventh Symposium J uly
2007
Maritime education and students
in China and the Philippines
Education,
multiculturalism
Sampson &
Zhao (2003)
J ournal article/World
Englishes
Communication and the
operation of ships in a
multilingual environment
Communication
Theotokas &
Progoulaki
(2007)
J ournal article/Maritime
Policy & Management
Co-operation between Greek
seafarers and other nationalities
Multiculturalism
Thomas
(2003)
Conference paper/SIRCs
third symposium
September 2003
Differences in attitudes
concerning the perspective of
gender
Gender issues

3.1. The effect of national culture on maritime safety
Lu et al. (2012) state that national culture has significant importance in explaining the
occurrence of human errors on ships. They emphasize that dimensions of national culture are
related to human failures in ship operations. Lu et al. (2012) used the theory of cultural
dimensions presented by Geert Hofstede in the 1970s as a reference. The theory of cultural
dimensions suggests that there are five elements that affect intercultural cooperation and
therefore also maritime safety the most. These are Power Distance, Collectivism, Uncertainty
Avoidance, Masculinity and Confucian Dynamism later referred to as Long term orientation.
For example, Lu et al. (2012) assume that the higher the masculinity level in a culture, the
higher the probability of human failures. Factors such as saving ones face, shame and respect
for social status are seen to have a negative relation to work safety. Or, if a persons Long
term orientation is high, it weakens the relationship between collectivism and human failures
in container shipping: high collectivism will lead to fewer human failures experienced by
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seafarers, but only when the levels of long term orientations among the crew are high. The
authors mention the Filipinos as an example. They score high degrees in collectivism, being
more group oriented and co-operative, whereas the Chinese culture relies on a high power
distance and organizational hierarchy and face-saving. Seafarers from lower power distance
cultures participate in contributing to a safer work environment and risk reporting.
Several other authors have also concentrated on Filipinos in their studies. Grn & Knudsen
(2011) present the concept of social cultural structure on board a ship. When comparing
Norwegians and Filipinos, the issue of cultural differences comes up. Norwegians see work as
a value and highlight individualism, whereas a Filipino, originating from a highly
collectivistic culture, sees work as a means to support the family and community, which leads
to fewer risks from them compared to their northern colleagues.
A stronger social network among the Filipinos also leads to better mental health. According to
Pyne & Koester (2005), studies indicate that Asians commit less murders and suicides.
Another cultural issue are the cultures with a high power distance, where it is not allowed to
question the decisions of ones superior. Pyne & Koester (2005) present some interesting
examples of cultural factors affecting peoples working habits. One example is that the word
no is considered rude in Asian cultures. This is a challenge when, for example, the pilot is a
westerner used to getting straight feedback from the mariners.
Hansen et al. (2008) studied the on board occurrence of accidents and illnesses of different
nationalities by comparing Filipinos with Danes. They discovered that Filipinos encounter
less occupational accidents than Danish seafarers. They also found differences in the physical
abilities of the two groups. The Danes, for example, are more often overweight, which leads
to a significant amount of back problems. They draw a conclusion that a seafarer from the
Philippines has a higher risk of losing his job due to an accident and may for that reason be
willing to avoid potential risk situations to a greater extent than his Danish colleague.
Hvold (2007) studied cultural differences on board Norwegian ships and presents the fact
that the more nationalities there are on board the ship, the lesser scores are obtained in safety
attitudes. This is also what Mrtensson (2006) found out. National culture also affects the
safety culture: people from cultures with higher power distance, high uncertainty avoidance
and high individualism score positively in terms of safety and are therefore safer employees.
He states that if a seafarer comes from cultures with high uncertainty avoidance, they are
more likely to follow orders and standard operating procedures.
Some authors have focused on the interaction between different national cultures. Theotokas
& Progoulaki (2007) studied how well Greek seafarers interact with crews from other
nationalities. They found out that for the Greeks, it is more difficult to cooperate with people
from cultures with a power distance lower than their own, such as Russians, since they feel
that they might question their position and behavior. The Greeks also had problems with
communication, language, customs and religion. The study indicated that mixed crews can be
a risk if they are not properly supported.
On the other, Sampson & Zhao (2003) indicated that working with persons from different
kinds of cultures increases safety, as it creates a social distance, tolerance and respect among
people from different nationalities and makes it easier to form especially professional
relationships on board. Some crew members also stated that a multinational crew increased
cultural understanding and racial tolerance (Sampson & Zhao 2003).
The problem with a multicultural crew is according to Horck (2010; 2006) the diverse
background of the seafarers and that the crews often do not know each other in advance and
are therefore not able to work as a team very fast. Introducing more social activities on board
7
the ships as well as making longer contracts with the crews would, according to Horck (2010)
increase maritime safety. In these kinds of situations the leader has to act differently than in a
crew that in everybody comes from similar cultural backgrounds. When discussing cultural
stereotyping is a way of defining cultural differences and it makes it easier to predict another
persons character and as to reduce our own uncertainty. To accomplish a working
multicultural environment on board ships the maritime industry needs the adopting of stronger
leadership and a more developed culture of teamwork (Horck 2010).
Sampson & Wu (2007) point out that a seafarers experiences within national frameworks
have a great impact on what a person considers to be a risk. These are, for example, safety
practices, safety regulations and labor market conditions that vary internationally.
3.2. Communication
Language is one of the strongest elements in culture (Horck 2010). He states that people
from the same culture have to be able to communicate and that language is undoubtedly the
greatest facilitator of communication. The proper knowledge of a language clearly leads to
fewer accidents. Lack of communication has been reported to be common and language
problems are mentioned since a declining number of ships have single nationality crews
(Hetherington et al. 2006).
Pyne & Koester (2005) bring up several cases of communication failures in their report. These
are listed as problems related to different cultures and languages between the crew and the
pilot, the crew and the passengers on passenger vessels, and with respect to external
communication and VHF communication with other vessels. They justify that it is possible to
minimize the amount of accidents directly related to poor communication since most of the
accidents occur when the level of understanding English is poor. Other factors to be improved
are procedures for communication, better selection of personnel and improved design of
maritime equipment and technology, including means for communication. Pyne & Koester
(2005) further state that especially crew communication is a significant factor in maritime
accidents. When crewmembers speak the same language, there is a risk of misunderstanding.
When adding people using English as a second language and the possible cultural differences,
the risk of miscommunication increases a great deal.
A lack of communication is a problem on an organizational, but also on an individual level.
Horck states in his licentiate thesis from 2006 that the lack of a common language in a
multinational crew can lead to the isolation of a crew member and a limited social life on
board. The effect of culture on the means of communication gives the individual an
understanding of the social interaction. Sampson & Zhao (2003) emphasize the importance of
English also in social situations, leading to a more uniform crew and therefore an improved
safety culture.
Horck (2006) presents several accidents where the lack of communication causing an accident
has been clearly shown. These are, for example, the collision of Silja Opera in the Baltic in
2003, the collision between Xu Chang Hai and Aberdeen in 2000, and a fire aboard the
Scandinavian Star in 1999.
It is often stated that a great deal of communication is what we call non-verbal (Horck 2010).
This can be understood as the things people do not say that are expected to be understood
from manners and facial expressions. In understanding non-verbal communication, culture
plays a crucial role.
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3.3. Maritime English
Because of the international character of shipping, maritime English has proved to be a very
important part of future officer training. If an officer is not used to speaking English, in the
beginning it may be difficult to express oneself. A paper written by Popescu et al. (2010)
suggests that the improvement of the standard maritime English would help young
apprentices to communicate and so to avoid accidents that happen due to human errors caused
by bad communication. Despite the positive impacts of multinational crews, communication
was seen as the major problem. Sampson & Zhao (2003) present an example of a captain who
had poor knowledge of English. This caused problems with the lower ranks in terms of a
loosened authority.
Recommendations for standard maritime English have been adopted by the IMO. It is a
simplified version of English including standard vocabulary for maritime communication
(Sampson & Zhao 2003). Despite good efforts of adopting Maritime English into the field, it
was not detected in the study on board ships. Also the drive for cheaper crews from less
developed countries can, according to Sampson & Zhao (2003), be seen as a risk, since the
assumption is that their English skills may be poorer.
The additional training in English is well acknowledged by maritime training facilities (Horck
2010). In any case the English skills of seafarers are often very basic, and the situation in
ports is similar, too (Horck 2010). According to Horck (2010), it is evident that the level of
English taught in maritime education has to be more advanced and also implemented for on
shore operators such as port operators.
3.4. Training
As shipping grows to be a more and more international business, also its managers need to be
more aware of cultural differences. The STCW convention has acknowledged the cultural
effects on peoples ways of communicating and it has been added to the regulations as an
issue of training and education. The question is how much resources the training programs
use on this. Horck has in several studies suggested introducing more education in cultural
awareness into the maritime education (Horck 2010; 2006; 2005). Benton (2005) states the
same.
Horck (2006) states that a greater focus should be given to the human element should instead
of automation and technology in decreasing the impact of the human factor. One
improvement would be better cooperation on board. Hence education and the knowledge of
cultures and how people act together as a group are needed, as misunderstandings are a great
threat to safety in the shipping industry. The outcome of the study is to realize that we all
need education in cultural awareness to be efficient in an industry getting more and more
globalized (Horck 2006). Furthermore, it is necessary, according to Horck (2010), for
maritime students to attend courses in pedagogy. Horck (2010) states that gender perspective,
cultural awareness and pedagogy are the three subjects that should be introduced at maritime
education training facilities very soon. Maritime education institutions do not, in Horcks
(2010) opinion, give enough time in their curriculums to teach communication and
management skills whereas the technical issues are highly emphasized at all parts of the
education of mariners.
At sea, errors are caused by bad design, poor training and bad management systems.
Competitive seafarers are well trained and low risk takers. These are made by good quality
training. Training ensures a ship maintains a high standard of operation and it enhances the
safety culture aboard a vessel (Barsan et al. 2012). The increase of technology aboard ships
has increased the need for training and especially training on modern ships.
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4. SURVEY ON SHIP CREWS VISITING FINNISH PORTS
4.1. Methodology
The crew data was collected from the Portnet database which includes information about the
ship calls in Finnish ports. The ship calls were collected from 13 ports in the area of the Gulf
of Finland and of the Archipelago Sea (HaminaKotka, Loviisa, Valko, Skldvik, Helsinki,
Inkoo, Kantvik, Hanko, Turku, Parainen, Uusikaupunki, Naantali and Rauma). These ports
were selected for the analysis, because the focus in the MIMIC project is especially the Gulf
of Finland, and to make the survey more comprehensive the ports in the Archipelago Sea
were included as well. Due to some practical reasons (explained in more detail later) it was
not possible to survey all Finnish ports.
Portnet is a national information system for vessel traffic and port call information. All
vessels visiting Finnish ports report to the Portnet e.g. the following information: the vessel
calls, cargo reports, hazardous cargo declaration and ship waste notification. The main users
are Customs and maritime authorities. In other words, obligatory information concerning a
ship call is transmitted through Portnet System to the authorities. (Portnet 2012)
Originally 539 ship calls were selected in the analysis on the basis of ship call information
from Portnet, but crew lists were available in the Portnet only for 453 ships of these. Each
individual ship was included in the analysis once per port. In other words, if a ship visited at
the port three times during the survey period, information from the crew list was recorded
only from one ship call, which was selected randomly. So, the crew information shouldnt be
regarded as in relation to the amount of ship traffic in the same period.
Crew data was collected from the crew lists (IMO FAL form 5) which are entered in the
Portnet system. Ships have to deliver crew lists to authorities on the basis of The Convention
on Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic (FAL Convention) set by International
Maritime Organization (IMO). Crew list form includes following information: ship
information (name, call sign, IMO number, flag state), information about departure/arrival
and latest port call, and crew information (name, rank or rating, nationality, date and place of
birth, nature and number of identity document). (IMO 2013) Permission to use crew list data
for the research was allowed by Finnish Customs.
The survey was made on the 5-7 November 2012 in the Finnish Customs office in Kotka. The
crew lists were surveyed from the period of 5th October 2012 to 4th November 2012. Crew
lists are maintained in the Portnet system only 30 days due to the Personal Data Act
(529/1999) so it was possible to collect data only from previous 30 days. Data from each crew
list had to be saved manually to an excel sheet, which limited the size of the sample. Crew
lists are saved mainly in PDF format in the Portnet system.
The following information from crew list was recorded: number and ratings (officers and
other crew members) of ship crew, nationalities of crew members and ship information
(name, flag state). The survey was complemented with information on Net Tonnage (NT) of
ships, which was obtained from Portnet as well.
Officers and other crew were analysed separately. Officers include the following ratings: chief
officer, second officer, third officer, chief engineer, second engineer, third engineer and fourth
engineer. Other crew includes the following ratings: cadets, boatswains, able seamens, oilers,
greasers, fifth engineers, cooks and ordinary seamens.
The analyzed ship types included Ro-Ro, container ships, dry cargo (incl. also dry bulk),
tankers and other ships like tug boats and barges. Crew lists of the passenger ships are not
entered in the Portnet so passenger ships were excluded from the analysis. Information is
10
presented for all the ports in total in order to ensure that a single seafarer, a ship or a shipping
company cannot be extracted from the results.
4.2. Number and flag states of ships
Dry cargo ships (160 ships) and tankers (125 tankers) formed the majority of ships in the
survey (63 %). In addition, the survey included 80 Ro-Ro ships, 70 container ships and 18
other ships (see Table 4.1).
Approximately 22 % of ships were Finnish. The second largest group was ships operated
under Netherlands flag (15 %), and 10 % operated under Antigua & Barbuda flag (see Table
4.1).

Table 4.1 Number and flag states of ships

4.3. Nationalities of officers and other crew
The survey included 2530 officers and 3507 other crew members in 453 ships. Seafarers
presented 48 different nationalities in total. The complete list of nationalities can be found at
Appendix 1.
By nationality, the largest group of officers was Finnish (17 %,), second largest group
Philippines (15 %) and third largest Russians (14 %). These three largest nationalities
composed almost half of all officers. The following nationalities were: Ukrainian (9 %),
Dutch (6 %), Estonian (7 %), Polish (6 %), Swedish (4 %) and German (4 %). Other
nationalities composed each less than 4 % (see Fig. 4.1).
11

Figure 4.1 The share of different nationalities, officers

The largest group of other crew by nationality was Philippines (48 %) and second largest
group Finnish (14 %). According to Galam (2011), in J apanese and Greek ships about 40 %
were Filipinos, which is in the order to the results of this survey.
The third largest group Russian compose only 5 % of other crew members. In other words,
Philippinos and Finnish dominate other crew members when looked at the nationalities.
Dispersion in nationalities of other crew members isnt as wide as it is in officers (see Fig.
4.2).


Figure 4.2 The share of different nationalities, other crew

0,0 10,0 20,0 30,0 40,0 50,0
Other
Estonian
Polish
Indian
Ukrainian
Russian
Finnish
Philippine
%
The share of nationalities, other crew (total 3507 crew members)
12
When ship types are compared, certain differences can be found. Finnish officers were the
largest group in Ro-Ro vessels. Ukrainians were the largest group among ship officers in
container ships, Russians in dry cargo ships. Philippines were the largest group of officers in
tankers. Polish and Swedish were especially notable in tankers and Dutch in dry cargo ships.
(see Table 4.2). Partly this correlates to the flag states of ships, as the largest number of dry
cargo ships were under Netherlands flag, and 8 tankers were under Swedish flag.

Table 4.2 Nationalities by ship types, officers
Nationality Ro-Ro Container
Dry
cargo
Tankers Other Total
%
Number of officers
Finnish 211 12 116 81 9 429 17 %
Philippine 109 43 59 169 1 381 15 %
Russian 26 75 156 65 21 343 14 %
Ukrainian 3 130 61 37 1 232 9 %
Polish 45 22 37 82 5 191 8 %
Estonian 65 11 50 3 21 150 6 %
Dutch 25 17 88 12 0 142 6 %
Swedish 35 0 4 63 2 104 4 %
German 12 18 23 44 2 99 4 %
Other 41 89 87 242 0 459 18 %
Total 572 417 681 798 62 2530

In other crew, Philippines dominated in all ship types except in other ships (see Table 4.3).

Table 4.3 Nationalities by ship types, other crew
Nationality Ro-Ro Container
Dry
cargo
Tankers Other Total
%
Number of officers
Philippine 376 356 322 605 8 1667 66 %
Finnish 255 21 90 119 13 498 20 %
Russian 7 17 77 41 27 169 7 %
Ukrainian 0 58 75 35 0 168 7 %
Indian 0 70 0 79 0 149 6 %
Polish 58 0 22 43 11 134 5 %
Estonian 17 5 54 2 23 101 4 %
Other 78 83 246 208 6 621 25 %
Total 791 610 886 1132 88 3507

13
4.4. Number of different nationalities per ship
The number of different nationalities per one ship varied from one to seven. The largest share
of ships had representatives of three different nationalities onboard (28 % of ships) followed
by ships with 2 nationalities onboard (26 %). In 15% of vessels crew consisted only of one
nationality (see Fig. 4.3).

Figure 4.3 Number of different nationalities per ship

If ship types are compared, it was tankers, container vessels and dry cargo vessels of which
some had over 5 different nationalities onboard. Other vessels were most commonly manned
with one nationality. Otherwise the differences between ship types are not very clear (see Fig.
4.4).

Figure 4.4 Number of different nationalities by ship types
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
N
u
m
b
e
r

o
f

s
h
i
p
s

Number of different nationalities per ship
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
N
u
m
b
e
r

o
f

s
h
i
p
s

Number of different nationalities in crew
Ro-Ro
Container
Dry cargo
Tanker
Other
14
5. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

The focus of this paper has been on ship crews and how multiculturalism of crews affects
maritime safety. The paper has consisted of the review on previous studies and of the survey
on crew information in ships visiting Finnish ports. The purpose of the survey is to provide
data about how multicultural crews actually are.
The multiculturalism of crews is an important subject to study because shipping is highly
international industry where economic competition is harsh. There are several reasons which
have led to a globalized labor market of seafarers. Money plays a role when shipping
companies are trying to cut operational costs of which crew costs form a remarkable share.
Especially a flag state of a ship and a nationality of seafarers affect crew costs. The rising
living standards in the industrialized countries have decreased the supply of seafarers in those
countries. The working conditions of seafarers have become more demanding and consuming
which decreases the attractiveness of seafarer profession, especially for citizens of developed
countries.
The previous studies on multiculturalism of crews and maritime safety focus mostly on the
following themes: differences between national cultures and how it affects e.g. working habits
or safety perceptions; communication issues and language skills; and training needs in
multicultural issues. There are also some studies which have looked at, for example, gender or
health issues between different nationalities.
Studies which focus on differences between national cultures have found out for example that
masculinity level of a culture affects the probability human failures. Collectivism versus
individualism has been one key element: high collectivism will lead to fewer human failures
because collectivistic cultures (such as Filipinos) see work as a means to support the family
and community, which leads them to take fewer risks. One aspect is also power distance:
seafarers from lower power distance cultures participate in contributing to a safer work
environment and risk reporting, while seafarers from high power distance dont question
actions made by their superiors even if they would pose a risk to safety.
In intercultural communication the central question is how to overcome language barriers
which can have severe consequences both for organizational risk level and for individual level
as a member of work team. There are examples of accidents in which communication and
poor language skills have contributed to the causes of an accident. To solve the problem,
attempts have been made to create standard maritime English. Studies, which have looked at
training issues, mostly state that there should be more training on multicultural issues and
intercultural communication which would support working in multicultural settings.
According to studies of Magramo & Cellada (2009) and Pyne & Koester (2005), about 70-80
% of worlds merchant fleet has multicultural crews. According to the results of this survey
85 % of ships had multinational crews. It is important to make a difference between the
concepts of multicultural and multinational, because nationality doesnt necessarily mean
there is one uniform national culture, but one nationality can include several ethnic groups as
is the case, for example, in many Asian countries.
Majority of ships in the Gulf of Finland and in the Archipelago Sea have two or three
different nationalities onboard, but some ships have even more. The study of Galam (2011)
states that Philippines usually work in lower ratings, but this survey showed that they are
second largest nationality also in ship officers after Finnish, and the largest nationality in
other crew. Although the size of the survey was very limited, it still gives some insight in the
15
structure and nationalities of crews. The accurate nationality and other crew information isnt
simple to obtain because of the sensitiveness of personal information.
The results of the survey raise some further questions when compared to the results of how
multiculturalism has been previously studied. It remains untouched how does it affect if there
are two strong national groups in crew in comparison with crews which have wider range of
different nationalities? In previous studies, there are divergent views if multicultural crews
pose a risk to maritime safety or do they actually improve safety. In authors opinion, it would
be discriminatory to say it poses more safety risks if a ship has multicultural crew or there are
certain nationalities onboard. Rather the focus should be on how multiculturalism should be
taken in consideration in ship operations, how good intercultural communication can be
supported and how common safety culture can be implemented onboard despite of different
national cultures. It would be also interesting to look at the number of crew members: do
ships operate with minimum amount of crew or how many ships exceed the minimum
manning requirements?
In future, the interesting topic to study would be to look at the responsibility issues of
manning. Manning issues are connected to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) both in
economic and social sense. Shipping companies strive to do profitable business but does it
lead to the neglect of societal responsibilities and to the neglect of wellbeing of seafarers?
These issues have also crucial impact for maritime safety because many accidents are caused
by human factors. Manning and competency of crews is of crucial importance for safe
operations of ships.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Authors would like to express gratitude to the Finnish Customs who permitted the use of crew
list information for the purposes of this study and provided conditions for doing the survey.
This paper has been made as a part of the MIMIC (Minimizing risks of maritime oil transport
by holistic safety strategies) project. The financing comes from the European Regional
Development Fund, the Central Baltic INTERREG IV A Programme 2007-2013; the Centre
for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment of Southwest Finland
(VARELY); the City of Kotka; Kotka-Hamina Regional Development Company (Cursor Oy);
Kymenlaakso University of Applied Sciences; the Finnish Environment Institute; the
University of Tartu; Tallinn University of Technology and the Swedish Meteorological and
Hydrological Institute. We express our gratitude to the financers and project partners of the
project.
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APPENDIX 1 LIST OF NATIONALITIES
Austrian Czech Indian Myanmar Slovak
Belgian Danish Indonesian Norwegian Spanish
Belorussian Dutch Italian Pakistani Swedish
British Estonian J amaican Peruvian Swiss
Bulgarian Finnish J apanese Philippines Turkish
Canadian French Kiribatian Polish Ukrainian
Cape Verde Georgian Latvian Portuguese Uruguayan
Chilean German Lithuanian Romanian Vietnamese
Chinese Ghanaian Malaysian Russian

Croatian Icelandic Montenegrin Singaporean