Why We Do What We Do

Seafarers and the British economy

95% of the weight of British visible trade is carried by sea making merchant shipping vital to the British economy.

According to the Chamber of Shipping, the British maritime sector has an annual turnover of £37 billion, more than the British agriculture and aerospace industries combined. Britain has the largest maritime sector in Europe, directly employing 250,000 people with as many jobs again relying indirectly on shipping.

Figures from the Department for Trade show that some 150,000 merchant ships visit British ports every year bringing us 354 million tonnes of goods and commodities. As the British Chamber of Shipping website claims:

“Without shipping, the import/export of affordable food and goods would not be possible - half the world would starve and the other half would freeze!”

Case Study

Recognising and responding to the needs of seafarers is part of Apostleship of the Sea's pastoral care. Many seafarers suffer loneliness, far from home and cut off from their own culture, family and friends. Below two of our chaplains explain how, with a little imagination, they helped to fill the void on a particular occasion. This is typical of the way our chaplains work on a day to day basis.

Daniel Mulcahy, port chaplain to the Medway ports
"While visiting the Summer Flower, a reefer, I met a Bulgarian seafarer who was looking rather miserable. He was the only Bulgarian among a mixed crew of Ukrainian, Maldivian and Filipino seafarers. So I invited him to join me on a visit to car carrier Seine Highway which was in port at the same time. He jumped at the chance.

Onboard the Seine Highway, he met the chief officer who introduced him to the captain and another crew member, all of them from Bulgaria. The visit lasted only a short time as the Summer Flower was due to sail. However the seafarer was visibly cheered by the contact with his compatriots. He told me that they were all from the same part of Bulgaria".

Sr Marian Davey, port chaplain to the Haven ports
"A seafarer from Cape Verde had to remain ashore in Ipswich until an injury to his arm had healed, a matter of several weeks. Although members of the chaplaincy team visited him regularly, it was clear that he was missing his crew mates. There are several seafarers from Cape Verde onboard a ship which regularly visits Ipswich. I asked them if they would entertain their compatriot onboard for an evening.

They were delighted. The British captain of the ship even told the cook to prepare food from Cape Verde for the visitor. I dropped him off and the crew promised that they would see him safely back to his lodgings, joking that they would make sure he could still walk in a straight line. It greatly raised the morale of the injured seafarer to spend an evening speaking his own language and enjoying a taste of life back home".