The latest Seafarers Happiness Index shows overall happiness falling to 6.87/10 in Q2 2026, down from 7.18 in Q1 – a decline the report describes as a shift from “acute shock” to “chronic strain” for crews at sea.
Where Q1 was defined by the sudden shock of conflict in the Persian Gulf, Q2 shows those pressures settling into the everyday baseline of life at sea. It is the daily norms – limited shore leave, excessive workloads and stagnant real-wage buying power – that are steadily eroding crew morale.
As Ben Bailey, Director of Programme at The Mission to Seafarers, explains: “Seafarers are extraordinarily resilient, but we must not mistake resilience for unlimited capacity; endurance is not the same as wellbeing.”
Read the complete Seafarers Happiness Index Report Q2 2026 here