Founded
2024
The Neptune Principles aim to improve working conditions for seafarers by increasing transparency around mental health, connectivity, shore leave, and work/rest hours. A coalition of the willing is needed to drive necessary changes at sea, and the Neptune Principles provide a framework for establishing a clear set of standardised indicators for assessing seafarers’ mental health and well-being, driving industry transparency and encouraging mutual accountability.
The Neptune Principles are an extension of the Neptune Declaration on Seafarer Well-being and Crew Change, developed in response to the crew change crisis that left hundreds of thousands of seafarers stranded on ships during the COVID-19 pandemic. The original Neptune Declaration called for giving seafarers priority access to vaccines, establishing health protocols, facilitating crew changes, and ensuring air connectivity between key maritime hubs and seafarers.
More than 850 organisations signed the original Neptune Declaration. Building on its success, the Global Maritime Forum worked with leading ship management companies to publish the Neptune Declaration Crew Change Indicators between May 2021 and July 2023 and has since focused on developing a new set of indicators and principles. Nearly a dozen companies are involved in establishing the Neptune Principles.
Maritime transport is the backbone of international trade, carrying around 90% of the global products essential to our daily lives. This is made possible by roughly two million seafarers who often face harsh conditions, isolation, and loneliness for months at a time. With the Neptune Principles, the Global Maritime Forum envisions a new set of global standards for ensuring shore leave, improving mental health at sea (notably depression, anxiety, stress, and suicide), and improving access to shore leave, crew changes, and sustainable work/rest hours.