Thanks To Hydroponics, Fresh Veggies Grown On Board Merchant Ships Are Heralding A Sea Change In Crew Well-Being

While the initiative helps to meet seafarers’ nutritional needs and reduce food waste, the crew also benefit from witnessing the greens sprouting in an otherwise harsh environment dominated by cranes and containers.

Written by Sunanda Mehta
March 30, 2025

Hydroponics involves growing plants in an artificial environment without soil and by using water-based solutions. (Express Photo)

Addressing seafarers’ long-standing need for fresh vegetables as they undertake long voyages across oceans, shipping companies have for the first time installed technology-driven vegetable growing units on board merchant ships. The move has ushered in a quiet revolution in the maritime world, transforming both the meals and morale of the crew.

“It’s been a game changer for us at sea. The units ensure a continuous supply of fresh greens, requiring minimal maintenance from the crew while significantly enhancing onboard nutrition. For vegetarians, especially, this is a breakthrough — fresh salads and herbs have always been a luxury on long voyages, as I have witnessed first-hand over the last 30 years of my career at sea,” said Captain Rajesh K Verma, Master of the Synergy Marine group-managed Aframax tanker ‘Effie Maersk’. Four of Synergy’s merchant ships – 90 per cent of its 28,000-plus seafarers are Indian – had these hydroponics units installed last year.

Hydroponics involves growing plants in an artificial environment without soil and by using water-based solutions. The hydroponics units, which are about the size of standard refrigerators or wine coolers, use artificial intelligence, cameras and sensors to regulate environmental factors such as ultraviolet light, water, fertiliser and temperature, that remain controlled and unaffected by outside climatic conditions which may vary as the ships sail to different continents. The plants grow vertically without soil with a “virtual agronomist” constantly monitoring each plant and adjusting its parameters for best quality and yield.

The most common vegetables grown are lettuce, bok choy, parsley, kale, cherry tomatoes and chillies. (Express Photo)

While many shipping companies are doing a trial run on a few of its vessels, Singapore-based Berge Bulk, which was the pioneer with the installations, has gone ahead to adopt the hydroponic practice in all 75 of its merchant ships.

“Each of our vessels has two hydroponics systems – so, we have a total of 150 hydroponics systems fleetwide. Throughout 2024, our vessels harvested a total of 1.2 metric tons (1,248 kg) of fresh hydroponics veggies at sea,” said Michael Blanding, head of Sustainability & Communications, Berge Bulk.

The aim, Blanding said, was to cater to the physical well-being of their seafarers by taking care of their nutrition and to reduce food waste onboard. “A lot of food waste comes from expiration of food – so having veggies which are “always fresh” helps to reduce this waste stream,” he added.

Oren Saar, CEO of Agwa, an Israeli company and one of the manufacturers of the hydroponic units, said the system also cuts the companies’ costs and helps the maritime sector’s decarbonisation goals by reducing food transportation emissions and packaging waste.

But the real benefit, perhaps, has come in terms of the response of the crew who can see greens sprouting in an otherwise harsh environment dominated by steel, cranes, containers and cargo holds.

“Growing various plants and vegetables has been my stress reliever on board. Aside from providing sustainable produce for everyone, it also benefits crew wellbeing and mental health, which helps maintain high team morale,” said Noli Paraunda, the Captain of a Berge Bulk vessel who hails from the Philippines. “There is also active crew engagement with many of them getting together to do the harvesting,” he added.

“I have personally sown the seeds and watched them grow from seedlings to plants. They must be handled with utmost care, and it is a pleasure to watch the plants grow,” added another Master, Captain K K Subramaniam.

The company has also created an online community for all of their Chief Cooks and Messmen where they share photos, recipes, tips, and tricks related to hydroponics. “It’s an engaged group that is constantly exchanging ideas and sharing best practices,” said Blanding, adding that Indians, Chinese and Filipinos are among the dominant nationalities on their vessels.

While up to 36 varieties can be grown in the units, the most common vegetables are lettuce, bok choy, parsley, kale, cherry tomatoes and chillies.

“The best part is that everything is managed by an agronomist from ashore. They take pictures of the running unit twice a day and they control and manage the nutrients’ dosage from ashore. All you need is a Wi-fi connection and a freshwater line connected to the unit. There is an iPad connected to the device and it shows symbolically which rack to harvest and what is the growing cycle stage of all the racks in the unit,” said Dinesh Jairam, general manager, fleet personnel, Seaspan Crew Management India Private Limited.

While Seaspan has 180 ships, with 40 per cent of its seafarers being Indian, the hydroponics experiment is currently running on three of their vessels. According to Jairam, cost-wise it usually works out to about USD 10,000 for three units plus an annual maintenance charge of USD 3,000 per year in which all services and seeds, etc are included, though these costs vary according to the company.

“The units are placed in the messroom or other locations where everybody can see the change on a daily basis. The crew love this on board and they are conscious of eating fresh veggies which they are otherwise deprived of. Also, hydroponics greens and veggies are far superior to organic ones as these are grown in pods of water with temperature and light control, there is no soil and everything is automatic,” said Jairam, adding that they plan to add strawberries to the produce once the system is perfected and ready for expansion.

“Our first commercial deployment was with Eastern Pacific Shipping Company in early 2023. Since then, we have expanded our presence across the maritime industry and now have more than 680 devices installed onboard a range of vessels owned by 12 major shipping companies, including Maersk, Eastern Pacific Shipping, Capital Shipping, and Anglo Eastern. Our ambition is to include as wide a range as possible of culturally diverse vegetables and herbs, given that commercial vessels often host multinational crews,” added Saar