Listen: Life At Sea: Fatigue among seafarers and how to manage situations- Captain Alao

On this edition of our ‘Life At Sea’ discussions, President of the Master Mariners Association in Nigeria, Captain Tajudeen Alao, talks on the many causes of fatigue that seafarers face as a result of on board operations.

He recognises that although there are set provisions for rest hours, but the job demands would not allow the seafarer get adequate rest. This tells on the wellness of the seafarer. So, what are the best options to managing the situations, to balance demands of the work and the seafarer’s wellness?

Captain Alao shares with us that as the shipboard operations is governed by maritime convention, for safe watch keeping, a ship is certified to have a number of people who would safely navigate the ship amidst emergencies.

He, however, continued that: “But, in reality, the ship is always undermanned, in the sense that you keep your watch eight hours. You have rest hours according to the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006.”

The captain shares more on the importance of training.