Globetrotting lifestyle. Adventure-filled job. Lucrative career offers. These are some of the common reasons why thousands of young men and women flock to maritime institutions every year with high hopes of working onboard ships and making it big in the global maritime industry.

Behind the romanticized persona of ship captains and the perceived glamour of the profession, however, is the nomadic, isolated, hectic and perilous life at sea. While majority of the world’s population benefit from the labors of a seafarer, being that 95 percent of global trade and commodities are moved by sea transport, only a few truly sees and understands the struggles of a merchant mariner.