FacebookTwitterEmailLinkedin Captain Yves Vandenborn, Head of Loss Prevention, Asia Pacific at NorthStandard, comments on the preliminary results of the 2026 SEAFiT Crew Survey, which has been underway since its launch at the beginning of the year. In the first quarter of 2026, the survey recorded 5,512 responses from seafarers across 458 vessels, providing an early but robust indication of emerging trends in crew welfare and onboard conditions. Sponsored by NorthStandard, the survey shows signs of gradual improvement, with the Crew Welfare Index standing at 73.6% in Q1 2026, compared to 70.1% in 2025. However, Yves notes that this progress mainly relates to the more visible and immediate aspects of support, while deeper structural pressures affecting long-term wellbeing still require further attention. Among the key areas to address, he highlights vessel design as a priority, stressing that the physical environment onboard has a direct impact on how sustainable life at sea feels throughout a contract. Concluding, he calls for credible benchmarks, practical metrics and a clearer roadmap to be embedded across the industry, so that crew wellbeing can be measured, tracked and improved in a more consistent and accountable way. RelatedNews Brazil postpones enforcement of fines related to its biofouling regulation Lessons learned: If something “looks about right” check more closely var jnews_module_21374711_0_6a27e1591131f = {"header_icon":"","first_title":"Related","second_title":"News","url":"","header_type":"heading_8","header_background":"","header_secondary_background":"","header_text_color":"","header_line_color":"","header_accent_color":"","header_filter_category":"","header_filter_author":"","header_filter_tag":"","header_filter_cpt_post_tag":"","header_filter_cpt_tribe_events_cat":"","header_filter_cpt_web_story_category":"","header_filter_cpt_web_story_tag":"","header_filter_text":"All","sticky_post":false,"sticky_post_filter":false,"post_type":"post","content_t