Rethinking the Concept of Seafaring Labor

In the maritime industry, seafaring labor is the most important part of the process of shipping production, just as much as the factory worker on land. However, due to seafaring is, in its most part, not possible to compare with occupations on land, the seafaring labor also very much differs from that of shore based workers. On the one hand, the seafarer's profession is still one of the most complex and dangerous work with unmatched rates of intrinsic hazards. On the other hand, the ship is not only the special instrument of seafaring labor, but also the residence where the seafarer is working, living, sleeping and socializing. All these characteristics determine that the policies and practices in respect of the seafarer differ from that in shore based industry. From the perspective of mode of production and labor process, a number of characteristics of seafaring labor are discussed in this article.