The Isle of Man Ship Registry is set to launch a pioneering piece of technology aimed at helping the welfare of thousands of its seafarers.

Director Cameron Mitchell said the app is in the final stages of development and is set go live later this month.

It will be available for free to around 11,000 seafarers working on more than 400 vessels under the Isle of Man flag.

Mr Mitchell, who served as a marine engineer at sea for 17 years with shipping lines including Maersk and Farstad, said the introduction of the app is being accelerated to tackle the challenges facing seafarers caught in the coronavirus pandemic.

Business News reported last month that the international shipping industry has warned of a threat to global trade from a mounting crisis on board merchant vessels. The current seafarer safety crisis came under the spotlight with a webinar session sponsored by the Isle of Man Ship Registry.

People in the industry say an estimated 200,000 seafarers are stuck on vessels and their contracts have expired, while an equal number are at home ashore unable to sign-on for their new positions at sea.

Mr Mitchell told Business News: ’Safety is a fundamental pillar of our ethos as a high-quality flag state.

’Even before Covid we recognised that something had to be done that delivered tangible results to help seafarers in the wilderness of the sea.

’We recognised that while there is support for seafarers in port, through the many brilliant chaplaincies and seafarer charities, the weak link is support while at sea.

’I raised it at the Red Ensign Group and with the seafarer charity ISWAN and it was clear to us that the problem of seafarer mental health was becoming more acute, with seafarers spending more time alone in their cabin than ever before.

’The app has many functions but a key one is to provide social activities to get seafarers interacting more on-board to combat that isolation.’

Mr Mitchell said the island team has produced the app with maritime training organisation Tapiit, which will live stream its support and training sessions via the app.

’The app provides structured welfare support for the seafarer from nutritional advice to live interactive support sessions for mental health and fitness,’ he said. ’The feedback we are receiving from ship owners, both clients and non-clients, is really positive. Ship owners want to find new better ways to help and protect seafarers and want to embrace digital innovation.

’We hope this app will be a step forward for the industry and make a positive difference to many thousands of seafarers sailing under the Isle of Man flag.’

Mr Mitchell said he was introduced to Tapiit through Merseyside cluster organisation Mersey Maritime and said it is doing a brilliant job producing an app that gives such a breadth of support and functionality.

Richard Turner, chief executive of Tapiit, which has offices in the Isle of Man and Liverpool, claimed the functionality of the app will be ground-breaking and range of services and support greater than any app currently available to seafarers.

He said: ’The Tapiit team is very excited to develop this crew welfare app with Cameron and his team at the Isle of Man Ship Registry. From my time working at Shell and setting up Tapiit, mental health, in particular, has always been the key problem area we have sought to tackle, so we are very much on the same wavelength as the Isle of Man.

’Cameron has been very specific about what the island wants and when it goes live it will be the most comprehensive crew welfare app in the world. We also have a number of large organisations partnering the app, who will be announced soon, and as a result will be able to offer support, through the app, to crew worldwide both on-board ship and in port. The app is designed to make seafarers lives easier and happier so it is not a one-off download, it can be so useful and supportive it can become part and parcel of what seafarers do each day.’