The social sustainability model for the maritime labor force

Environmental pollution, global warming, declining energy resources, declining economic productivity and negative social impacts in the world are forcing sectors to take sustainable measures. For this reason, the concern of creating a sustainable structure today has gained importance in the maritime sector as well as in all sectors. One of the features of sustainability, which is a popular concept today, is its longevity. The most valuable resource that can ensure the longevity of businesses is human resources. Considering that most of the goods subject to world trade are made by sea transportation, it is possible for shipowners to protect their assets with a sustainable maritime labor force. However, when both the studies in the literature are examined and the reports obtained from the maritime sector, it is seen that there is a constant supply deficit, especially on the side of the officers, and there is an emphasis on the shortage of seafarers. From here, when the difficulties of working conditions are added to the difficulties that seafaring is inherent in, arises the need for seafarers to be much more supported to do their profession. Therefore, the longevity of the human factor, which is at the center of sustainability, has become a significant issue for the maritime industry. The purpose of this study is to create a sustainable model by determining the expectations of seafarers and the requirements that can meet these expectations in order to ensure the sustainability of the maritime labor force. In the study, it is thought that proposing solutions that will enable seafarers to achieve both economic and social welfare with the establishment of work-life balance will play an important role in increasing the interest of future generations in seafaring, in particular. In the study, the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) method used to transform customer expectations into product features was used. The "Optimal Card Sorting" software program was used to determine the seafarer expectations that constitute the inputs of the Quality House, which is the application part of QFD, and the requirements that may correspond to these expectations. Thus, the creation of a list of indicators that can be taken as reference in future scientific studies has been one of the important outputs of this study. The Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) method was used in weighting the inputs of the Quality House because it eliminates uncertainties and gives more precise results. In addition, in order to get clearer results in the relationships matrix, the operations were performed using Fuzzy Logic. Modeling the House of Quality (HoQ) method, with Fuzzy Logic, FAHP and Card Sorting method has made this study unique, as well as eliminating uncertainties regarding the sustainability of the maritime labor force, resulting in more consistent results. In the House of Quality, it was seen that the biggest absolute expectations were work-life balance, social benefit, education and training, and safe and healthy working environment. It was seen that the first ten requirements with the highest absolute importance that could correspond to these expectations were health and safety of people, social insurances and benefits, medical coverage and medical benefits, repatriation, understandable contract, quality and quantity of food, set up a land-sea-land career management system, short deployment and flexible working time, establishment of a crew welfare department and technology supporting safety at sea. As a result of the study, the necessity of establishing a healthy work-life balance that prevents seafarers from being separated from social life and their families for a long time has emerged in order to ensure the sustainability of the maritime labor force. In addition, the implementation of social benefits that will guarantee the lives of seafarers and their families and the desire of seafarers to work on ships with a safe and healthy working environment are other important results of the study.