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THE global shortfall in shipping manpower has
doubled to 20,000 people in the last two years.
New Zealand Maritime School director Capt Tim
Wilson said there was an urgent need to increase
the number of competent seafarers.
“Shipping companies are presently pinching each
other's staff. This year, we have seen shipping
companies in Asia increase seamen wages by five
to six times,” he said.
Wilson was speaking to reporters after the
opening of the 11th Annual GlobalMET Conference
themed Maritime Manpower Challenges in the 21st
Century last week.
He said that although many new maritime
academies had cropped up, it could not match the
rapid growth of ships worldwide.
“This is due to the long process and amount of
experience needed to produce a competent master
mariner or chief engineer,” he said.
Malaysian Maritime Academy (Alam) chief
executive officer M. Adthisaya Ganesen, who was
also at the press conference, said that almost
50% of marine senior officers were in the age
group of 50 and above and needed to be replaced
soon.
“It would take a lot of time and effort to
produce a competent seafarer. There is no
shortcut to be a master in a ship.
“Fresh school leavers have to undergo formal
education at maritime institutions as well as
onboard training that take about three years to
be a licensed officer,” he said.
He added that it would take 10 to 12 years to be
a master mariner or chief engineer.
“Seafarers have to gain at least six years of
experience and pass the Class 2 and 1
certificate of competency exams before they can
command a ship,” he said.
Adthisaya said that as a result of this
shortage, companies were in a race to offer
better remuneration schemes, especially for the
top four positions – captain, chief engineer,
chief officer and second engineer.
“Currently, a prominent shipping company is
willing to offer US$25,000 a month to an
experienced liquefied natural gas vessel
captain, which is the highest pay the industry
has witnessed.
“Other shipping companies will have to jump on
the bandwagon if they want to keep their
employees,” he said.
He said another worry was the quality of
competent seafarers as shipping companies
accelerated the promotion of seamen to fill in
the top position to man a ship.
Wilson said GlobalMet, a global maritime
education and training association, aimed to
work with maritime institutions and shipping
companies to produce more seafarers in the
future.
“We are also working to benchmark the standard
of maritime training and assessment through our
network of world-class maritime academies,” he
said.
Adthisaya added that shipping companies were now
more willing to provide berthing facilities for
cadets.
“Previously, the number of berthing facilities
for cadets was limited to comply with the safe
manning policy. Companies like MISC and NYK have
modified their ships to accommodate more
trainees,” he said.
GlobalMET comprises 130 members of various
maritime training institutions from 29
countries.
Hosted by Alam, the 11th Annual GlobalMET
Conference is the leading regional conference on
maritime education and training.
It brings together researchers and practitioners
from the academia, industry and government to
advance research and practice in maritime
education and training.
The conference is also aimed at creating a
platform for knowledge sharing and
collaborations among academicians, researchers,
practitioners and maritime personnel in their
goal of producing high quality maritime
education and training. |
