V.Ships and Martek Marine to fight sudden cardiac arrest at sea

Martek Marine, a trusted provider of technology for ship safety, performance and crew welfare has teamed up with V.Ships, the world’s leading third-party ship management company to combat the number of fatalities from sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) at sea.

To combat SCA, V.Ships is rolling out Martek Marine’s Lifeforce® automated external defibrillator (AED) across each of its managed vessels, enhancing the welfare of its seafarer pool of over 44,000.

The issue of SCA is growing, not just in the maritime industry, with more than six million deaths worldwide directly attributed to SCA, and survival rates less than one per cent.

V Ships said: “We undertook a thorough investigation of the global AED market before deciding on a model and partner to be equipped throughout the fleet. It was concluded that the LIFEFORCE AED from Martek Marine met all our criteria, with proven shipboard pedigree and type approval from DNV GL. As the leading ship management company in the industry, crew welfare is our highest priority, and as such we have mandated the requirement for AEDs on every ship to protect against sudden cardiac arrest.”

Martek Marine is excited to continue to develop our relationship with V.Ships and hope that it will encourage other ship management companies to take sudden cardiac arrest seriously, and protect their crew with fleetwide AEDs. Paul Luen, CEO of Martek Marine, said: “We feel this is the beginning of a truly great partnership, setting the new standard for crew welfare globally.”