Go to sea! A campaign to boost shipping industry recruitment.
The global shortage of seafarers, especially officers, has already reached significant proportions and is now a source of genuine concern to all involved in the industry.
The demand for raw materials, finished products, foodstuff, energy and luxuries has grown, year-on-year, in line with the requirements of global trade - and I do not expect the current financial crisis to have a very serious impact on the volume of, at least, the basic commodities transported by sea. That demand has been, from time immemorial, satisfied by the international shipping industry, which, today, transports over 90 per cent of the world's commerce safely, securely, efficiently and at a fraction of the environmental impact and cost of any other form of bulk transportation.
Without ships - and, in the context of this initiative, without the seafarers to man them - one half of the world would freeze for lack of the fuel to heat it, and the other half would starve for lack of the grain that gives it its daily bread.
An industry that is itself in a state of continuous growth, shipping has, since the beginning of the decade, been characterized by record numbers of new ships on order to meet the needs of an ever-expanding international trade - and for existing and new ships to operate in accordance with the high standards adopted by IMO, shipping will require additional numbers of high calibre, highly- qualified and experienced seafarers.
A stark indication of just how serious the manpower shortage is becoming came in a recent report, issued by Drewry Ship- ping Consultants. It assessed the current shortfall of officers in the global fleet to be some 34,000, against a requirement of 498,000. Moreover, assuming officer supply continues to increase at current levels, the report predicts that, by 2012, the officer shortfall will have risen to 83,900.
To put this in perspective, as recently as 2005, the BIMCO/ISF Manpower Update had assessed the officer shortage to be 10,000 with the shortfall rising to 27,000 by the year 2015. The general message is clear: we are fast approaching a crisis situation.
Over the last few years, shipping has enjoyed a period of considerable expansion - so much so that, at the beginning of 2007, the world fleet reached 1.04 billion deadweight tons. New players have entered the business, drawn in by the prospect of high returns in what has been a buoyant and rewarding market. Notwithstanding the present downturn, reflecting the global economic situation, supply of manpower for the huge number of newbuildings scheduled to come on stream - in this and the subsequent years. One estimate has assessed that about 400,000 seafarers and 45,000 new officers would be needed to crew the 10,000 vessels forecast to join the global merchant fleet in the next three years.
Such growth has exacerbated the scarcity of human resources, both in terms of seafarers and among those who provide the shore-based technical support on which the industry relies (marine superin- tendents, harbour masters, maritime pilots, VTS and SAR personnel, etc). And, as the latter are almost exclusively drawn from the former, our campaign will be focusing on the need to attract seafarers into the profession - and retain them as long as possible thereafter.
The problem has both quantitative and qualitative aspects. Purely in terms of numbers, while the point has not yet been reached when ships are unable to sail and cargoes remain on the quayside, it will become an increasingly real prospect as the shortage increases - unless we act with due haste, methodically, systematically and consistently.
Currently, the shortfall seems to be absorbed by the existing workforce - but not without recourse to some excessive measures. According to reports, officers are working longer hours and, occasionally, not taking their holiday entitlements. Some are awarded exemptions to enable them to serve in positions for which they may not be fully qualified. Training periods are being shortened, hastening the early promotion of younger seafarers, who may lack the necessary experience to shoulder the responsibilities of higher ranks. Ships may receive short-term permits to sail with fewer than the required minimum crew complement. Meanwhile, the demand/ supply imbalance is forcing salaries up, which has the effect of enticing older officers out of retirement, thus raising the age profile of the workforce, and giving rise to some undesirable developments.
The cumulative impact of all this can only be detrimental to the quality of service provided. In any workplace there is a direct relationship between the quantity of work required, the resource available to do it and the quality of the output. Unreasonable demands lead to stress, fatigue and a fall-off in performance. No-one is immune, least of all ships' officers, whose jobs are challenging and demanding enough at the best of times.
I think the issue is not a simple one and there is no simple answer. To increase own - indeed, while officer salaries are being driven to record levels by market forces, the demand/supply imbalance is worsening. At the same time, shipping needs to address other perceived 'negatives' that act as a disincentive to recruitment, while stressing the unique advantages of a career at sea.
A recent survey of seagoing personnel, carried out by a recruitment company, revealed that pay was not the most popular reason for going to sea. The most quoted reason was that seafarers actually wanted a career at sea; then, proving that, even in the age of air travel, romance is still alive, came "a desire to see the world". Only after these, came the financial considerations.
Even more instructive were the responses to questions about the negative aspects of a seagoing career. These centre around, on the one hand, 'quality of life' issues, with 'time spent away from family and friends', 'time spent away from children' and 'difficulties in keeping in contact with home' all ranking highly; and, on the other hand, 'quality of work' issues - such as 'too much paperwork', 'fatigue', 'fear of being treated like a criminal' and 'onboard living conditions'.
Although money may have emerged as the highest single factor when the same survey delved a little deeper to find out what motivated seafarers to stay at sea, it is, nevertheless, instructive to note that job satisfaction, career-related ambition and job security all scored highly and, collectively, outscored purely financial considerations. And the idea that the shipping industry can provide the basis for a fulfilling and satisfying life-long career is borne out by the responses to whether a career at sea was viewed as a job for life: the overwhelming majority replied that they either expected to spend all their working lives at sea or that seafaring would provide them with the necessary experience and qualification for a related job ashore.
All of which would tend to suggest that recruitment, rather than retention, is the nub of the problem. I have long been an advocate of the need to promote the industry and improve its public image. The fact that shipping still tends only to make the headlines for negative reasons - accidents, environmental impacts, piracy, oppressive security measures leading to denial of shore leave, criminalization - serves only to fuel misconceptions and act as a disincentive to recruitment. Outside the industry itself, the wider public has little conscious perception of the vital role that shipping plays in everyday life and this, clearly, needs to change.