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Global Maritime Welfare Charity Expands Wellbeing Tracking Beyond the Ship’s Rail with New Shore-Based Index
Global Maritime Welfare Charity Expands Wellbeing Tracking Beyond the Ship’s Rail with New Shore-Based Index
The Mission to Seafarers launches the ShoreHI — a first-of-its-kind tool to measure happiness among maritime professionals on land
By Okeoghene Onoriobe | Waterways News Correspondent
For nearly a decade, the maritime world has had a window into the emotional and psychological state of seafarers at sea. Now, a global welfare charity is turning that lens landward — and the people who manage Nigeria’s ports, crewing agencies, maritime law firms, logistics companies and shipping operations may soon find their own wellbeing under scrutiny.
The Mission to Seafarers has announced the launch of its Shorebased Happiness Index (ShoreHI) — a new welfare measurement tool designed to capture the wellbeing and job satisfaction of maritime professionals working on land, for the very first time.
The ShoreHI mirrors the structure and methodology of the internationally recognised Seafarers Happiness Index (SHI) and will consist of a 10-question, 1-to-10-scale survey targeting those employed ashore in maritime roles — including ship management, port operations, maritime law, insurance, logistics, finance, and technology.
The move has particular relevance for Nigeria’s maritime sector, where tens of thousands of shore-based professionals — from NPA staff and freight forwarders at Apapa and Tin Can Island to NIMASA regulators and shipping agents — work under significant pressure with little formal measurement of their workplace welfare.
The key objectives of the ShoreHI are to generate industry-wide insights that enable data-driven improvements in workplace culture, retention, and performance, and to provide robust comparative data to support better welfare policies.
Steven Jones, who founded both indices, explained the rationale behind the expansion. “We have spent years measuring happiness at sea,” he said. “Now it is time to measure the wellbeing of the people ashore whose decisions shape life onboard. If we want happier, safer, and more supported seafarers, we need to understand the pressures and realities on both sides of the ship-shore divide.”
Ben Bailey, Director of Programme at the Mission to Seafarers, said the new tool completes a picture that the SHI alone could not provide. “The Seafarers Happiness Index has given us a clear view of life at sea. What it also shows is that many of those pressures originate ashore. ShoreHI is the next step — connecting both sides of the sector so we can move from anecdote to evidence, and target the changes that will have the greatest impact on wellbeing across the maritime workforce.”
The survey will be conducted anonymously and built on the existing Seafarers Happiness Index infrastructure, keeping additional resource requirements to a minimum. Over time, ShoreHI results will be aggregated alongside seafarer findings to build the most complete picture yet of how work and organisational culture interact across global maritime operations.
The announcement comes at a time when Nigeria’s maritime workforce is under considerable strain. Port congestion, policy uncertainty, low welfare standards for terminal workers, and the mental health burden on shipping professionals have all been subjects of growing concern — issues that Waterways News has reported on extensively.
The SHI, which is now in its 10th year, is run quarterly by the Mission to Seafarers in collaboration with Idwal and NorthStandard, and supported by Inmarsat. Its most recent edition recorded a modest rise in seafarer happiness to 6.98 out of 10, up from 6.91 in Q4 2024 — though concerns remain around aging vessels, maintenance pressures, and shore leave restrictions.
With the ShoreHI now joining the suite, maritime professionals on both sides of the gangway — including those working across Nigeria’s major ports and waterways — will for the first time have a formal channel through which their wellbeing can be tracked, compared, and acted upon.
NIGERIA WATCH
How this story connects to Nigeria’s maritime sector
The launch of the Shorebased Happiness Index arrives at a defining moment for Nigeria’s maritime industry — one in which the human cost of keeping Africa’s busiest port economy running is rarely counted, let alone measured.
Nigeria’s shore-based maritime workforce is vast and varied. It spans the dock workers and terminal operators at the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA)-administered facilities in Apapa, Tin Can Island, Onne, Warri, Calabar and Port Harcourt; the freight forwarders and clearing agents regulated by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS); the seafarer certification and vessel inspection teams at the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA); the waterway transport operators and inland port personnel under the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA); and thousands more employed across crewing agencies, maritime law firms, logistics companies, and ship chandlers spread across the Niger Delta and Lagos corridor.
Despite the scale and strategic importance of this workforce — one that underpins Nigeria’s import-export lifeline and a significant share of its non-oil foreign exchange earnings — there is currently no formal, structured mechanism for tracking the welfare and job satisfaction of these professionals. Their grievances, burnout levels, workplace pressures, and morale are largely invisible to policymakers.
This is where the ShoreHI could change the conversation. Should Nigerian shore-based maritime workers participate in the index in meaningful numbers, the resulting data could provide the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy — led by Minister Adegboyega Oyetola — with an independent, evidence-based picture of workforce wellbeing across the sector. It would complement the Ministry’s ongoing reform agenda and give added weight to calls for improved welfare conditions, better pay structures, and more humane working environments at Nigeria’s ports.
For NIMASA, whose mandate includes the welfare and certification of Nigerian seafarers and maritime labour compliance, the ShoreHI represents an opportunity to benchmark Nigeria’s shore-based workforce against global standards — and to identify systemic gaps that internal reporting alone may not capture. The agency has in recent years expanded its focus on seafarer welfare, but the wellbeing of the shore-based professionals who support seafarers has remained a blind spot.
The Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), which advocates for the interests of cargo owners and monitors port service quality, would also find value in ShoreHI data. A demotivated or poorly supported port workforce — from berth allocation officers to terminal gate staff — directly affects cargo dwell time, port efficiency, and ultimately the cost of doing business at Nigerian ports.
For organised maritime labour, including the Maritime Workers’ Union of Nigeria (MWUN) and the National Union of Seafarers of Nigeria (NUSN), the ShoreHI offers a rare external validation tool — one that could strengthen their advocacy with port employers and government regulators by replacing anecdote with hard data.
Nigeria’s participation in the ShoreHI is not automatic. It requires deliberate engagement — from NIMASA and the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy encouraging participation, to industry associations like the Nigerian Shipowners Association (NISA), the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), and the Shipping Companies of Nigeria (SHIPPERS-COMP) circulating the survey among their members. The more Nigerian voices that feed into the index, the more relevant and actionable its findings will be for our sector.
At a time when Nigeria is positioning itself as the maritime hub of West and Central Africa, understanding whether the people who run that hub are fulfilled, supported, and fairly treated is not a soft question. It is a strategic one.
Waterways News will continue to monitor Nigeria’s engagement with the Shorebased Happiness Index and report on any findings with implications for domestic maritime policy and workforce welfare.
UNN Vice Chancellor: Nigeria Cannot Afford to Ignore the Maritime Sector
By Emetena Ikuku | Waterways News Reporter
The Vice Chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), Prof. Simon Ortuanya, has declared that the maritime industry is a critical driver of Nigeria’s economic future, warning that the nation’s higher institutions must urgently reposition themselves to take full advantage of the sector’s vast opportunities.
Ortuanya made the remarks at a recent event organised by UNN’s Institute of Maritime Studies, where he stressed that the university was determined not to be left behind as the global maritime economy continues to expand rapidly.
“The maritime industry is growing. UNN should not be left behind,” the Vice Chancellor said, underlining the institution’s commitment to deepening its presence in maritime education and research.
His comments come as UNN’s Institute of Maritime Studies announced the expansion of its academic programmes with five newly approved offerings — spanning Maritime Blue Economy, Maritime Disaster Risk Management, Maritime Economics and Trade, Marine Ocean Engineering, and Maritime Cruise, Tourism, Health and Hospitality Management. The programmes will run at certification, Postgraduate Diploma, Masters and PhD levels.
The Director of the Institute, Prof. Florence Orabueze, said the expansion was driven by the urgent need to equip academics and industry professionals with current knowledge and skills tailored to both local and international maritime realities. She also unveiled the maiden edition of the University of Nigeria Maritime Studies and Research Journal, which she described as a credible platform for publishing research with direct relevance to Nigeria’s waterways economy.
“We encourage our students, researchers and scholars to consider this journal as a platform for publishing their intellectual output. We must sustain our own initiatives to meet our socio-economic and environmental peculiarities,” Prof. Orabueze said.
The development at UNN aligns with a broader national push to position the maritime sector as a pillar of Nigeria’s economic diversification drive. With over 90 per cent of Nigeria’s trade conducted through maritime channels, industry stakeholders and government officials have consistently argued that unlocking the sector’s potential requires sustained investment in human capital and research.
For Waterways News readers, the UNN expansion represents a significant step toward building the pipeline of trained professionals that Nigeria’s ports, shipping lanes, inland waterways, and blue economy industries urgently need. As institutions across the country deepen their maritime offerings, the race to produce world-class Nigerian maritime talent — and reduce dependence on foreign expertise — is well and truly underway.
Oyetola Takes Nigeria’s Case for Equity to IMO’s Green Shipping Session in London
By Ighoyota Onaibre | Waterways News Reporter | May 5, 2026
Nigeria’s Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Dr. Adegboyega Oyetola, has thrown his weight behind a fair and inclusive global transition to net-zero shipping, insisting that any decarbonization framework that ignores the economic constraints of developing nations is one Africa and the Global South cannot afford to accept.
Speaking at the 84th session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 84) of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in London last week, Oyetola reaffirmed Nigeria’s support for the global push toward zero emissions in international shipping — but drew a firm line: the 2050 net-zero target must align with sustainable development goals and be backed by tangible support for nations still building their economies.
The session, which drew environment and shipping ministers from across the world, has become a focal point for tension between developed maritime nations pushing aggressive decarbonisation timelines and developing economies demanding that equity, not just ambition, shape the rules.
On the sidelines of MEPC 84, Oyetola held high-level bilateral engagements with IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez and the President of Saudi Arabia’s Transport General Authority, H.E. Fawaz Al Sehali — meetings that underscored Nigeria’s growing weight in global maritime diplomacy.
In his discussions with Dominguez, Oyetola reiterated Nigeria’s commitment to a productive and mutually reinforcing relationship with the IMO, anchored on maritime safety, institutional capacity development, and sustainable blue economy growth. The IMO chief, in turn, expressed appreciation for the warmth shown during his recent visit to Nigeria, noting that his meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was a strong signal of the country’s seriousness about maritime governance.
L-R: Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, Mrs. Fatima Mahmood; Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Dr. Adegboyega Oyetola; Secretary-General of International Maritime Organization (IMO), Mr. Arsenio Dominguez; Acting High Commissioner of Nigeria to the UK, Ambassador Mohammed Maidugu, and Director General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Dr. Dayo Mobereola, during a meeting on the sidelines of the 84th session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee in London last week.
Dominguez also singled out Nigeria’s leadership in tackling maritime insecurity in the Gulf of Guinea, commending the significant reduction in piracy incidents and the improved regional coordination that has followed. His remarks aligned with Nigeria’s recent four-year zero-piracy milestone — a record that has drawn attention from maritime security bodies worldwide.
Talks with the Saudi delegation centred on strengthening bilateral maritime ties and reinforcing mutual support within the IMO framework — a relationship that could carry strategic weight as both nations navigate the politics of the global energy transition.
Broader discussions at MEPC 84 also touched on Nigeria’s expanding role on the IMO Council, port modernisation and digitalisation reforms, and efforts to raise human capital development to international maritime standards.
The minister’s London engagements come at a pivotal moment. Climate activists recently stormed IMO headquarters during the MEPC 84 sessions — a confrontation Waterways News reported — as pressure mounts on the organisation to tighten its green shipping commitments. Nigeria’s position, as articulated by Oyetola, reflects a careful balance: supporting the direction of travel while refusing to let speed override justice.
For a country that handles a significant share of West Africa’s maritime trade and is deepening its blue economy ambitions, how the IMO’s net-zero framework ultimately shapes up could have far-reaching consequences for Nigeria’s shipping costs, port competitiveness, and energy choices for years to come.
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Navy Dismantles Militant Logistics Network on Cross River Waterways, Recovers Boats and Engines
Navy Dismantles Militant Logistics Network on Cross River Waterways, Recovers Boats and Engines
By Okeoghene Onoriobe | Waterways News Reporter Tuesday, May 6, 2026
Naval forces have stepped up operations against militant groups and suspected kidnappers along the Cross River waterways, recovering a cache of speedboats and outboard engines in a series of targeted follow-up raids.
The Director of Naval Information, Navy Captain Abiodun Folorunsho, confirmed the developments in a statement made available to journalists on Monday, disclosing that troops operating out of Dayspring Island — where a militant camp had earlier been destroyed and a forward security post established — sustained pressure on known enclaves in the area.
During the operations, troops uncovered ten outboard boat engines hidden in surrounding bushes and inside a structure traced to a suspected militant. All recovered items were seized and secured.
In a separate but related operation, acting on fresh intelligence, naval personnel advanced into a creek near Akpamfi, forcing armed suspects to abandon their positions and flee. The fleeing militants left behind two fibre boats and a 200-horsepower outboard engine, all of which were recovered by troops.
Folorunsho said the focus on boats and engines was deliberate, noting that these assets form the backbone of militant activity along Nigeria’s inland and coastal waterways. Depriving criminal groups of their waterborne mobility, he explained, directly weakens their capacity to carry out attacks, kidnappings and other illegal operations.
He added that the sustained offensive had considerably degraded the fighting strength of the groups, curtailed their freedom of movement and denied them the safe havens from which they previously operated.
The Navy reaffirmed its commitment to continuing the operations until the waterways are fully cleared of criminal elements and made safe for legitimate commerce and transportation.
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