Beate Stelzer & Steven Jones

The nurse who decided to go to sea

With the Day of the Seafarer approaching we headed to Panama to hear the extraordinary life of Captain Beate Stelzer

Women working at sea are a rarity. A woman captaining a merchant ship rarer still. So with the Day of the Seafarer fast approaching Maritime CEO leapt at the opportunity for a video interview onboard the 4,258 teu Luna Maersk as the ship prepared for a rainy transit from the Pacific side.

Berlin native Captain Beate Stelzer’s life story is extraordinary. Deciding back in 2007 at the age of 40 to quit her job as an intensive care nurse for a maritime career switch, Stelzer signed on with Hamburg Sud. Eleven years later with the German carrier now bought by Maersk, she became a captain.

“I always wanted to do another completely different job in my life. There are so many interesting jobs you can do; why only do one?” she said of her mid-life career switch.

To get more women into shipping Stelzer said it’s important that

STEVEN JONES, THE founder of the Seafarers Happiness Index, discussed the mood of crews around the world in early May.

The Q1 report from the index, published at the start of May, had a strong Covid-19 theme to it, revealing dread, fatigue and burn-out onboard.

Jones discussed the fears and concerns of crews at sea during the coronavirus crisis.

“One of the things that was really coming across probably most loudly in [the report] was the fact the uncertainty takes a terrible toll,” Jones said in the video interview. “The fact that many of the seafarers are not sure when they will be able to get home.”

‘Uncertainty takes a terrible toll’

prejudices are ditched about women in technical jobs. It’s important too, she said, to make the job more family friendly, for example with shorter contracts.

The majority of the episode was spent discussing the challenges of life at sea during the coronavirus.

“Uncertainty about getting relieved or not makes some of the crew depressed or aggressive,” Stelzer admitted, saying that it was vital that as captain she had more communication with her crew during these difficult times.

Interactions onboard are starting to become a bit “frayed around the edges”, Jones warned in the interview, adding: “The stresses are starting to tell.”

Since the Q1 report was

With no shore leave whatsoever for several months, Stelzer related how she saw the same people day in, day out - “the same faces, the same noises” - something she admitted has become boring.

The former nurse also addressed the medical challenge for seafarers during the coronavirus crisis with crew unable to go ashore for aid.

“Humanity is getting lost by this,” she warned. ●

Cultural lockdown

Books La Donna E Mobile by Georgia van der Rohe

Belle Letter by Georgia Simmons

published new surveys seafarers’ mood has darkened further, something that will only alleviate, Jones said, once international consensus is reached on how to fix the crew repatriation issue. ●

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