Building Resilient Maritime Crew Rotation Systems: A Configurational Analysis of Disruption Readiness, Shared Crew Pools, and Seafarer Relief Continuity

Maritime crew rotation remains vulnerable to systemic disruption when replacement personnel, travel access, documentation readiness, port-call reliability, and company-level reserve capacity fail to align. While previous studies have examined crew change crises, seafarer welfare, and workforce sustainability, limited research has explained which combinations of organizational and operational capabilities make crew rotation systems resilient under disruption. This study develops a configurational resilience model for maritime crew rotation by integrating disruption readiness, digital crew visibility, documentation preparedness, travel flexibility, port coordination, reserve staffing, and shared crew pool capability. Using a structured dataset of ۸۶ shipping companies and crew management organizations, the study applies fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to identify sufficient pathways leading to high crew rotation resilience. Crew rotation resilience is measured through a composite index covering relief continuity, delayed-relief reduction, emergency replacement capability, compliance protection, and seafarer welfare continuity. The results identify four sufficient configurations for high resilience. The strongest pathway combines high digital crew visibility, strong documentation readiness, flexible travel arrangements, and active port-agent coordination, producing a consistency of ۰.۹۱ and raw coverage of ۰.۳۴. A second pathway shows that shared crew pool capability can compensate for limited internal reserve staffing when documentation readiness and port coordination are strong. A third pathway indicates that companies with high reserve staffing can remain resilient even under moderate travel disruption if relief planning lead time and compliance monitoring are strong. The fourth pathway highlights a welfare-centered configuration in which fatigue monitoring, early relief escalation, and proactive family-support communication strengthen continuity during prolonged disruption. The study contributes to maritime workforce management by shifting crew rotation research from single-factor disruption analysis toward capability configurations. It also introduces shared crew pool capability as a resilience mechanism for reducing failed relief and improving seafarer rotation continuity without relying solely on larger internal reserve crews.

کلیدواژه ها:

Maritime crew rotation ، Crew change resilience ، Seafarer relief ، Shared crew pool ، fsQCA ، Workforce resilience ، Maritime disruption management ، Crew management capability