Between 70 and 80% of all crews of the world's merchant fleet sail in a multicultural environment. The reason for such a high number of multicultural crews lies in the economic viability of hiring such a crew, because the crew salaries vary according to nationality and are related to the standard of living of a particular nationality. Because there are so many multicultural crews, it is important to be aware of differences between cultures that may be encountered on board. It is important to educate seafarers on subjects related to cultural differences and problems that may be encountered within a multicultural environment and offer them solutions for solving such problems. Effective communication is the key to creating good interpersonal relationships in general, and of particular importance for the multicultural relations because ineffective communication is one of the major problems encountered within this type of crew that has a negative impact on the establishment of good human relationships on board and can adversely affect the safety of navigation and the occurance of human error's.