While commercial shipping remained vital for maintaining global supply chains during the COVID-19 pandemic, measures imposed to control the spread of infection have disrupted crew changes and impacted interactions with port personnel and among crew members on board. Initial reports indicate that this affected work and life on board, the length of seafarers’ time on board as well as seafarers’ employment and family concerns. However, the consequences for seafarers’ well-being are not well understood. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on seafarers’ mental health and chronic fatigue, and to analyze the role of potential mitigating factors, notably onboard peer support, external support and Internet quality. Survey responses from 622 seafarers on international commercial vessels were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Findings suggested that the impact of the pandemic increased seafarers’ fatigue and mental health problems. However, they also indicated ways of mitigating the negative impact of the pandemic and increasing resilience by enhancing support from fellow crew members on board, ensuring the availability of external support and providing fast and reliable Internet access.

尽管在 COVID-19 大流行期间商业航运对于维持全球供应链仍然至关重要，但为控制感染传播而采取的措施扰乱了船员换班，并影响了与港口人员和船员之间的互动。初步报告显示，这影响了船上的工作和生活、海员在船上的时间长短以及海员的就业和家庭问题。然而，对海员福祉的影响尚不清楚。本研究的目的是检查 COVID-19 大流行对海员心理健康和慢性疲劳的影响，并分析潜在缓解因素的作用，特别是船上同伴支持、外部支持和互联网质量。使用结构方程模型分析了 622 名国际商船海员的调查答复。调查结果表明，大流行的影响增加了海员的疲劳和心理健康问题。但是，他们还指出了通过加强船上其他船员的支持、确保外部支持的可用性以及提供快速可靠的互联网访问来减轻大流行的负面影响和增强弹性的方法。