SHIPMANAGER V.Group has announced a new Voyage Loyalty crew rewards scheme in a bid to boost crew retention.

Seafarers earn points called SeaStars for time served and for completing tasks such as training. These can be redeemed for consumer goods, gift cards and offers on an app.

A pilot scheme since late 2023, for Filipino officers and chief cooks, showed increased operational efficiency and 5% better crew retention, leading V.Group to roll it out globally.

V.Group marine HR chief operating officer Allan Falkenberg said many seafarers had hung up their boots since the pandemic and the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza.

“It’s been quite an industry in turmoil and crew are becoming more scarce, especially global, international, competent crew,” Falkenberg said.

V.Group services more than 3,500 ships and boasts a crew pool of about 45,000, with about 27,000 on board its ships. “We all the time have to look at how can we keep being attractive to talent,” Falkenberg said.

The company brought in senior commercial officer Bridget Blaise-Shamai, a former airline executive, to set up the scheme.

Blaise-Shamai said such commercial loyalty programmes were common in other businesses, but “quite novel and quite unique” to maritime.

She called it “a terrific example of how you can go and affect the behaviour of our seafarers, where everyone is mutually benefited”.