Who we are, why we started, and where we're taking the future of seafarer welfare.
IMWIRSA — the International Maritime Welfare Innovation Research and Support Association — is an independent, non-profit international initiative headquartered in Tallinn, Estonia. We bring together researchers, seafarers' centres, maritime unions, port authorities and technology partners around a single goal: making seafarer welfare visible, evidence-based and accessible everywhere a ship calls.
We don't replace the seafarers' centres, missions and chaplaincies that have supported sailors for generations — we connect them. Every partner keeps its name, its funding and its independence; IMWIRSA provides the shared digital layer, research and coordination that lets the whole network work as one.
Every product and recommendation is grounded in peer-reviewed evidence and real seafarer data.
We grow through voluntary partnerships with existing welfare organisations, not by replacing them.
MWApp and the Global Maritime Welfare Platform turn good intentions into something a seafarer can actually use.
IMWIRSA began with a simple observation: the world of the seafarer has changed dramatically — shorter port stays, longer contracts, constant connectivity, new pressures at sea and at home — but the support model built around them largely hasn't. Seafarers' centres remain essential, but each works in isolation, invisible to a seafarer until they happen to find the door.
In 2026, a small group of researchers and maritime welfare practitioners set out to write down what a modern, connected model could look like — and then to build it. That work became our White Paper, "The Future of Seafarer Welfare and Shore Support to 2040," and its first practical product: MWApp.
Seafarers keep the world moving. It's time the world takes care of them.
— IMWIRSA founding principleIMWIRSA believes that seafarers' welfare is essential for safe, efficient and sustainable shipping. We unite research, innovation and collaboration to create measurable positive change — in every port, for every seafarer.
"The Future of Seafarer Welfare and Shore Support to 2040" — a practical roadmap for modernising the seafarer welfare ecosystem. Here's the short version; the full document is on the Research page.
The seafarer's world has changed — shorter port calls, longer contracts, constant connectivity — but the support model hasn't caught up.
From rising psychological strain and isolation to shrinking port time and generational change in expectations.
Modernising existing centres, strengthening people-support (mental health, family, legal, medical), and building shared digital infrastructure.
Stages are directional, not rigid — different regions and organisations move at different speeds. Anyone can join at any stage.
Registry of seafarers' centres · pilot of the Global Maritime Welfare Platform in 5 ports · digital "port card" standard · volunteer training in basic psychological support · first seafarer needs surveys.
Family support section · telemedicine and online legal consultations · experience-exchange programmes between centres · first international SBOM ecosystem conference.
100+ partners · preventive psychological-resilience programmes · integration with shipping companies and unions · a permanent seafarer feedback mechanism and continuously updated welfare standards.