Turnaround times for car-carrying ship transporters have become so fast that crew members hardly have time for a telephone call home before setting sail again, social researchers said, according to the Daily Telegraph.
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Almost one in 10 seafarers work more than 90 hours a week, breaking international codes setting a 48 hour limit, the report added. Nearly one in two say they could not take time off at short notice while 86% said it would be difficult or impossible to attend a funeral or wedding.
The Daily Telegraph said the bleak snapshot of life on huge vessels described as multi-storey car parks carrying up to 7,000 cars on up to 13 decks emerged from research by Professor Theo Nichols and Erol Kahveci of Cardiff University, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.
The paper said that, despite the pressures, the jobs are prized because of the regular stream of income for deprived families and the shortage of jobs in their own countries.
A Filipino could earn $US1,200 (£685) a month on an eight month car carrier contract compared with $150 (£85) for a manufacturing worker in the Philippines – many saw seafaring as providing the chance to buy a home or start a business.
The Daily Telegraph said the project points to far reaching changes in a business pioneered by Japanese car manufacturers. Modern vessels with a capacity of over 6,000 vehicles have a crew of 16 compared with ships built in the 1970s which carried 2,000 cars and 40 mariners.
An estimated eight million vehicles out of total industry production of 60 million a year are shipped around the world and the faster turnaround times mean that crews find they have little time to “see the world”, the paper added.
Prof Nichols reportedly sees little sign of the pressures easing with the greater use of hub ports and feeder services. “This means crews employed on long haul routes will experience even shorter shore leave and those on the feeder services will face even more frantic port schedules,” he added.
