Shortages Still Bite - 16 October 2008
Shipping faces a shortage of 90,000 officers by 2012 according to the chairman of shipmanagement and crewing company OSM, Jan Morten Eskilt.
Speaking at the Marine Money Asia Week conference in Singapore he warned that wages had already spiralled as owners struggle to recruit and retain seafarers and called this an earnings explosion that is set to continue.
He said: 'The poaching of personnel remains an issue, as does ensuring seafarers are fit for the task.' Mr Eskilt said that Drewry Shipping Consultants, in conjunction with Precious Associates Ltd (PAL), has produced its Manning 2008 annual report in which it sounds various warnings including the risk of employees being promoted to jobs for which they are not competent.
The report says that already this year, the officer shortage may be as high as 34,000, a figure that could almost triple in the coming four years. In the period 2008 to 2012, an extra 26,160 officers will be required for the dry-bulk fleet, 15,793 for containerships, 9,735 for chemical tankers and 8,088 for oil tankers. During his presentation, Mr Eskilt pointed to a number of factors that are exacerbating the problem.
With particular reference to trainees, he said the officer shortage is a commonly accepted problem, but little is done and that ships are often built without cabins for cadets and trainees. 'Spare cabins are often sold to clients onboard instead of being used for trainees,' he continued, 'and cadets are there, but they do not get onboard training. They go to land-based industry instead.
Owners often operate vessels with two watch systems, allowing no room for a trainee and lowest officer rank in their fleet at all.' Referring to operational issues, Mr Eskilt commented that we may see 'rig rotations' for the North Sea fleet, which will require 50% more crew. He said: 'The majority of vessels trading in the EU/EEA have manning requirements due to cabotage or industry requirements, which rules out the use of non EU Crew. The more advanced the requirements, the more difficult it is to recruit.'
He said the requirements of the Oil Companies International Marine Forum (OCIMF) for combined experience slows down promotion potential and the requirements of the officer matrix and combined experience is already a part of the offshore sector and not just tankers. Commenting on the Drewry/PAL 2008 report, Mr Eskilt said it took 'no account of the additional manning requirements of offshore vessels and the requirement for marine personnel on floating rigs is not even mentioned'.
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