Supply of Dairy Products in the Maritime Industry: Challenges and Improvement Prospects

Providing high-quality and balanced nutrition for seagoing vessel crews is a critical element of maritime safety and maintaining personnel performance. This study focuses on the significant challenge of supplying dairy products to ship crews. While these products are highly nutritious, they require specific logistics and storage conditions during long voyages, which may be an issue of particular relevance in the current geopolitical context. The article offers a comprehensive analysis of the opportunities and constraints within the national system for supplying dairy products to maritime shipping. The research objective was to identify the factors affecting these processes, as well as to determine possible improvement directions. The research objects included regulatory acts used to compile ship crew diets and some relevant documents on Russia’s dairy industry statistics. The methodology combined an interdisciplinary approach with comparative legal, economic, and statistical analyses. The study demonstrated a discrepancy between the energy value of the diet stipulated by regulations (4,000 kcal) and the actual energy expenditure of various categories of seafarers (3,300–4,500 kcal). Their current daily ration contains not enough dairy products. While the macroeconomic constraints of the domestic dairy industry are related to low cattle population, the promising development directions include freeze-dried dairy products, logistics chains, and new digital platforms that would integrate suppliers and consumers. Three groups of problems (methodological, logistical, and organizational) are currently affecting food supply efficiency. The current dairy product consumption norms need to be revised taking into account professional and climatic stressors. Freeze-drying methods may expand the product range and prolong the shelf life of dairy products during long ship voyages. The proposed measures hold high practical significance for state governance bodies, shipowners, and dairy industry enterprises. A more sustainable supply system may improve the maritime labor performance.