The average age of survey respondents was 46 years and there was a good range of seagoing experience. As shown in figure 1, 23% (totalling 231) of respondents stated they had between up to 10 years’ experience, 28% (288) of respondents had 10 to 20 years, 22% (227) of respondents had 20 to 30 years, and 25% (261) of respondents claimed over 30 years’ seagoing experience.
Figure 1. Seagoing experience (years) of participants
Participation
Senior crewmembers were heavily represented in this survey with most of the respondents coming from masters of vessels (64% or 657 respondents). The next two role/ranks were engineers (14%, 141 respondents) and ratings/deckhands (also 14%, 139 respondents).
Location of respondents
The location of respondents was spread across Australia as shown in Figure 2. 30% (308) of respondents were from Queensland, 22% (223) were from Western Australia, 13% each from Tasmania (135) and New South Wales (129), 10% (105) from South Australia, 8% (83) from Victoria and 4% (38) from the Northern Territory. Four of the seven States/Territories were roughly represented given the proportion of the domestic commercial vessel fleet. There was underrepresentation in New South Wales and Queensland and over-representation in Western Australia, Tasmania, and South Australia (see Figure 2 and Figure 3).
Figure 2. Location of respondents by State/Territory
Figure 3. Proportion of fleet by State/Territory
Vessel class and operational area
As shown in Figures 4 and 5, Class 2 and Class 3 vessels respondent percentages matched their proportional representation as part of the domestic commercial vessel fleet (46% (474) Class 2 vessels, 28% (288) Class 3 vessels). Class 1 respondents were overrepresented (21% (216) Class 1) when compared to the proportion of that fleet.
Figure 4. Percentages of respondents by vessel class
Figure 5. Proportion of fleet by vessel class
As shown in Figures 6 and 7, respondent’s operational areas in this survey were not representative of the proportion of the domestic commercial vessel fleet. The respondent percentages closest to being representative were operational area C respondents working restricted offshore operations within 30 nautical miles from shore at 26% (270) with the proportion of the fleet being 32.5%.
Figure 6. Percentages of respondents by operational area
Figure 7. Proportion of fleet by operational area
Length of trips at sea
Respondents were asked to indicate how long they were out at sea per trip. 31% (315) of respondents stated that their trips were less than 12 hours. 13% (129) of this category stated that they were out at sea between 12 to 24 hours, 5% (53) were out from 1 to 3 days and 33% (341) stated they were at sea from 3 to more than 10 days (Figure 8).
Figure 8. Generally, how long are you out at sea per trip?