From payments to welfare: why financial security belongs in the crew wellbeing conversation

A seafarer can be thousands of miles from home and still be the person their family depends on to pay rent, cover school fees or handle an emergency. When wages arrive late, cost too much to send, or can't be accessed easily on board, that worry stays with them through the contract. Financial stress rarely comes up in discussions of crew welfare, yet it is one of the most common and persistent pressures seafarers face.

That link between money and mental health is the focus of the latest Seatrade Maritime News podcast, recorded ahead of Crew Connect Global 2026. Host Marcus Hand is joined by Errikos Andreakos, Chief Commercial Officer at MarTrust, and Simon Grainge of ISWAN, the International Seafarers' Welfare and Assistance Network, to talk about how the two organisations are working together to understand and improve seafarer wellbeing.

MarTrust's work gives it a close view of the financial side of life at sea: how crew are paid, how they get money home, and what happens when that process fails. ISWAN brings decades of experience supporting seafarers and their families through welfare services and helplines. Together, they have built a Power BI dashboard that draws on their combined insight into seafarers' welfare needs, so the industry can see what crew are actually dealing with instead of relying on assumptions.

In the episode, Errikos and Simon explain why financial security should sit alongside mental health, connectivity and working conditions as a core welfare issue. They discuss what the data is starting to show, how better visibility can help operators and welfare organisations act earlier, and where the partnership is going next.

For anyone responsible for crew, whether in ship management, manning, HR or welfare, the conversation offers a practical point of view. Crew who are confident their families are provided for are more focused, more settled on board, and more likely to return for their next contract. Getting payments right is not only an operational task. It is part of looking after people.