The time has come: The first test ship is on its way from Piraeus (Greece) to Hamburg. Four scientists have left their traditional desks and transferred their work to the ship for 14 days.
Seafarers on board merchant ships live and work in a challenging environment as they are exposed to various stress factors, such as the physical separation of family and friends, long and hard working days, time pressure, vibration and noise.
In this context, the scientific team of the e-healthy ship project determines the health, nutrition and fitness status of the seafarers on board. The state of knowledge of the culturally different crew members with regard to health issues is also to be recorded.
Questionnaires were developed, devices tested and methods approved over several months to prepare for this milestone. Now the project is moving from theory to practice - with the aim of developing preventive measures that may assist seafarers to optimise working and living conditions on board.
Project result: Digital platform for health promotion
The data collected on board the four participating merchant ships will be used to develop an e-health platform as main result of the e-healthy ship project. The platform will consist of several modules and link different maritime information systems. The "E-learning" module, for example, is intended to provide interesting information for seafarers on nutrition, sports and relaxation techniques on board.
About the e-healthy ship project
e-healthy ship is an interdisciplinary project with the aim of optimising health management on merchant ships. The project is funded by the European Union (ERDF) and the Free Hanseatic City of Hamburg (FHH).
Project partners are the Institute for Occupational Medicine and Maritime Medicine (ZfAM) / University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), software developer Hanseaticsoft GmbH and the two Hamburg shipping companies Peter Döhle Schiffahrts-KG and KG Reederei Roth GmbH & Co.
