The Year of Crew Asset Management
By Peter Hult, CEO
At VIKAND, we believe the maritime industry—and indeed all segments of the maritime industry—need to view crew health and wellbeing as an asset management issue.
While the concept of ‘asset management’ may seem a little callous as we are talking about human sustainability and the hard-working men and women at sea—these words and this idea simply mirror the kind of terminology an engineer might apply to regularly maintain a vessel’s machinery to avoid costly breakdowns. The same applies to crew.
Structured systems for crew retention and health are to the bottom line no different than a company’s approach to manage and monitor asset management for success and wealth.
VIKAND effectively manages every aspect of maritime health, including diagnosing and treating seafarers with chronic diseases onboard. Through our efforts, we can save a loss of 10,000 seafarers a year in an industry which has a predicted shortfall of 90,000 crew by 2026.
Proactive healthcare support also reduces serious onboard medical conditions by 75% and all associated costs like emergency medical evacuations.
No matter the maritime segment—commercial, cruise, yachting, fishing—the industry needs to stop viewing healthcare as a cost but rather as an investment to keep its workforce fit and healthy. As a strategy, crew asset management is a valuable return on investment complemented by a rigorous influence on safe vessel operations.
VIKAND’s commitment is unwavering: driven by the values of human sustainability and our corporate ethos—we can because we care—more than ever, VIKAND’s focus is on wellbeing and the healthcare measures that provide it. We will continue to partner with industry stakeholders to support human sustainability and increase the understanding of crew asset management as a primary strategy.
Crew and guest welfare and related human sustainability measures provide a balanced approach as the maritime industry transitions to digitization and decarbonization. Seafarers are the most important asset powering the global industry.
