attracting and recruiting officers for tomorrow’s merchant marine

8/3/2019 Attracting And Recruiting Officers for Tomorrow’s Merchant Marine

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Attracting And Recruiting Officers for Tomorrow¶s Merchant Marine



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Contents

Title Page.No

Abstract

Introduction 3

Demand and Supply of Officers 4

United Kingdom: A Case Study 5

Factors affecting Demand & Supply 6

Attracting new officers 8

Conclusion 11

Reference 12



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Abstract

The present maritime industry is increasingly aware of

the lack of experienced and competent Officers however, the practices to increase

recruitment and retention varied in application. This report studies and examines the

issues faced by today¶s maritime industry in supply and demand of officers and how

to increase the recruitment and retention of officers while satisfying the needs of the

employees along with achieving the organisation¶s goals and objective.

Introduction

Seafarers are ³those who are engaged or employed to serve in any

capacity on board any vessel´(Healey,1969).This concept of seafarer in maritime

industry have changed considerably and present day seafarers are characterised bytheir qualifications and to some extend by the specifications of their vessels. The

transitions or changes happened in maritime industry had significant effects on the

roles and activities of seafarers. Officers include Masters, Chief Engineers and other

certificated deck and engineering officers. The application of modern technology and

the owners idea of reducing operation cost to improve operating efficiency has

seriously affected the number of seafarers onboard (Alderton, 2004).The reduction in

the crew size has increased the complexity of the job nature of the officers and

implementation of the new technologies has resulted in the requirement of seafarers

with specific knowledge and training such as navigation systems and advances in

engine room automation. Most of the seafarers in present day are highly flexible and

multi skilled and this is mainly because of the qualifications and the training they

have undergone (Alderton, 2004).Officer composition onboard in the last few years

have changed. Large number of ship owners are recruiting officers with less training

and experience and also from different countries to minimise the cost and this have

resulted a culturally diverse work environment which in turn have resulted in difficulty

in management (Leggate,2004).The above mentioned cost cutting activities

gradually resulted in the shortage of qualified and experienced officers in the

industry. Seafaring population, particularly officers are aging population whose

qualification are highly regarded internationally in the industry (Thompson Clarke

Shipping ,2002) and to sustain the steady supply of officers it is essential to recruit

of new officers while keeping the current officers whose knowledge is invaluable.



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Demand & Supply of Officers

The most recent BIMCO/ISF update showed a

13,000, equivalent to about 2% shortfall gap in officer supply of 624,000 compared to

the 637,000 officers required (BIMCO/ISF, 2010), whereas in 2005 the gap was only

10000 (BIMCO/ISF, 2005).In the last five years the demand as well as supply of

officers has increased but there is still an increase in shortage of officers compared

to 2005. This indicates that even though there is no serious aggregate shortage of

officers, it identifies some supply problems for senior officers and engineers in some

labour markets and recruitment and retention problems in certain shipping market

segments. (BIMCO/ISF, 2010)

Figure 1.1 and 1.2 illustrate the supply and demand of officers and ratings from

BIMCO/ISF (2000, 2005.2010) studies

Figure 1.

Source: Author 2011

Source for Figure:BIMCO/ISF(2000,2005,2010)



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Ratings level personnel increased 15 per cent since 2000 to 2005

with a surplus in supply of 721,000 compared to a demand of 586,000 (BIMCO/ISF,

2005) but in 2010 there is an equal balance of 747,000 ratings for both supply and

demand(BIMCO/ISF, 2010).

Source: Author 2011 Figure 2.

Source for Figure:BIMCO/ISF(2000,2005,2010)

United Kingdom: A case study According to the statistics done by Department Of Transport (DFT) there

were around 925 new entrant officer cadets in 2008/09 in UK which is the highest

number since the current system started but then the value fell down to 754 in

2009/10 (DFT,2010). The DFT study showed that in 2006 there were about 26,700

UK seafarers working at sea, of which 13,600 were deck and engine officers, 800



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technical officers,2,300 catering officers, 10,400 ratings and 1,100

trainees.(DFT,2006)

In 2010, about 27,800 UK nationals were seafarers working

regularly at sea, consisting of 11,300 deck and engineering officers (assuming a

retirement age of 62), 1,500 technical officers, 1,900 catering officers, 11,300 ratings

and 1,800 trainees in training. (DFT, 2010) The statistics clearly defines that there is

a decrease in seafarers during these years and it is evident that the reduction in

seafarers is largely contributed by the decrease in officers.

The number of certificated officers in 2010 was 21 per cent

lower than in 1997.However the number of certificated officers was 1 per cent lower

in 2010 than in 2009 .The certification system for deck and engine officers has been

expanded in recent years, and if the newly eligible groups are excluded the overall

decrease since 1997 is 26 per cent (DFT, 2010).

According to Drewry/PAL Global Manpower Model the global

officer requirement in 2008 is 498,000 which is 34,000 more than the number of

officers available. The report also estimated that if the world commercial fleet

continues to grow at 17% in ship numbers then the officer shortfall could reach

84,000 by 2012 if nothing is done to change this (Drewry, 2008).

Factors aff ecting Demand & Supply

Factors that have impacted on the demand and supply of officers can

help in understanding the problems faced by the industry which in turn can help in

increasing the recruitment and retention. It is believed that the problem faced by the

maritime industry today is the shortage of µqualified¶ seafarers particularly officers

rather than the shortage of seafarers. Even though these situations exist, there is an

untapped supply of seafarers in non-traditional maritime countries, due to the greater

availability of human resources at a lower cost to operators, and this could provide a

potential supply of seafarers to the industry. This growth may lead to a balance

between supply and demand but the shortages in supply in some countries cannot

be filled by the oversupply in others. This is mainly due to language, cultural

difference or standards in qualification or restrictions of foreign nationals in various

nations (BIMCO/ISF 2010).



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The shortage of skilled labour in the maritime industry

stems from a number of sources mainly because of the financial and operational

decision (ILO,2001).In the case of officers this can be attributed to a number of

incidences occurred in the history of shipping industry. After the oil crisis happened

in 1970 a lot of factors like over tonnage, low freight rate, execution of new

technologies to reduce the cost ,flagging out of vessel have all affected on the supply

of seafarers(Lane,2000).These factors also had larger impact on reducing the

awareness of the employment prospects offered by the industry, long lead times

between the recruitment and qualification of officers, as well as the changing nature

of career choices among potential new recruits (ILO,2001).

There is a general belief in people that seafaring is not a

rewarding career and is considered to be unattractive when compared to the other

professions this is mainly due to the perceived limited career prospects in seafaring,

as well as high training costs, which may have to be paid by the trainee itself. Lack of

availability of the training berths for officers also contributes to the officer

shortage.Generally there is lack of awareness about the shipping industry in public

and there is not much attention attained by the industry unless an accident or

environmental damage occurs. Awareness and image of the industry has got great

influence on recruitment of personnel into the industry (Mitropoulos,2004).

Other factor influencing the officer supply is the difficulty

faced in recruiting process. Recruiting can be affected by external factors such as

recessions, higher operating costs, environmental concerns such as pollution, the

criminalisation of seafarers, industry exposure and the industry's management of

these situations .(Higginbottom, 2005).

Maritime industry has one of the toughest work

environments with excessive hours, periods of isolation, involving a lot of physically

demanding work in a potentially dangerous atmosphere and being surrounded by a

culture that is considered to be macho and male-dominated. It is very hard to attract

or influence new recruits with conditions like these and most of the time the newly

recruited candidates consider these carrier as an interim one until they find a suitable

job(Joshi,2005).Another important fact that is leading to officer shortage is the

growth in the number of vessels in the world fleet along with the lack of recruits

entering the industry .Highly attractive salary from abroad in oil and gas sector on



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shore based sector has also contributed in loosing qualified officers (Thompson

Clarke Shipping,2002)

The mismatch between the demand and supply of the officers has

some impact on shipping mainly on the operating costs of the vessel particularly

specialist vessels. Oil and gas careers are most affected by this shortage and this is

driving up the operating cost ,in some case as much as 40 percent of the total

operating costs.(Mathews,2006).Shortage of quality officers from traditional maritime

countries has resulted in a shift towards Asia and the Indian sub-continent where

labour pools are larger and cheaper Shifts away from traditional maritime countries

where standards are high and remuneration and conditions are much better, are

likely to increase as supply falls and demand increases(BIMCO/ISF 2005).

The existence of all these factors explains the depth and complexity of the

issues faced by the maritime industry in shortage of seafarers especially officers and

hence to solve these issues there is a need to improve recruitment by attracting new

officers to the industry and retaining the qualified and experienced officers.

Attracting new officers

Creating an attraction to a career especially in a marine

industry is not an easy task but still following actions can be considered to alter and

improve the preconceived notions of the potential recruits. Highlighting and creating

an awareness of the following advantages can be helpful in attracting new officers to

the industry

Advantages of an Officer:

Even though there are negative aspects to an off icer career but there are

some advantages too.

Receiving good remuneration

Global travel

Long holidays

Career flexibility and security

Early responsibility

Career opportunities at sea and in shore-based positions

Satisfaction in knowing that you are doing something useful and exciting(ISF

,2011)



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New entrants to this career are often given individual

responsibilities and thus can experience increased responsibilities in the early stages

of their career with fast promotion as they gain experience in the

sea.(ISF,2011).Shipping industry can provide employment opportunities around the

world because of its global nature. Developing a career in through the industry is

relatively easy for those have gained experience and skill and, various shipping

industry all over the world are looking to employ officers with experience due to the

specific and unique knowledge they have acquired while at sea. (Precious

Associates Limited 2003).One of the main advantage of this career is the long break

given to the officers between sea going periods, some organisation gives equal

proportion between sea and shore based time

Strategies followed to attract and retain officers in the industry

might not always goes in right direction. Current practices involves increased

remuneration packages, providing tax benefits to operators to promote training

program, and employer programs to encourage employee development and

satisfaction (Gardner et al.,2001).Even though some of these schemes have small

successes ,it is possible that they have targeted the wrong group of people and thus

may have failed to lead an significant increase in recruitment. Some European

countries rather than trying to change the perceptions or increasing maritime career

awareness and attracting new recruits to the industry, government has given more

importance in providing tax benefits to ship owners who train their new recruits

(Leggate 2004).

Organisations such as Sea Vision set up by the UK Chamber of

Shipping have been introduced to help raise the profile of the maritime industry in

order to attract young recruits. This is imperative if the shipping industry is to meet its

needs in the future (Lloyd¶s List, 2007).

There is a need for explaining career options an early stage

because career choice made by the new generation depends on the choices that

provide most opportunities Involvement of government in the increasing the supply

of officers in some countries has helped in providing effective measures to combat

the problem. In India for example it is estimated by the Indian National Ship owners¶

Association (INSA) that there is a shortfall of about 834 officers in Indian flag

vessels, as of June, 2007. The Indian government implemented certain procedures

to overcome the shortage of qualified staff which would in hand expand the facilities



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for marine education & training by allowing private colleges to be opened. These

facilities provided by the Government provide a viable solution to India¶s problem and

could be followed by other countries. These measures have helped in the way of:

(i) ³Ensuring quality training at the maritime institutes as per international standards

and introducing several new courses for pre and post sea training.´

(ii) ³Action has been initiated for facilitating induction of retired naval officers into the

merchant navy.´

(iii) ³Introduction of tonnage tax obligation on shipping companies to give onboard

training to cadets.´

(iv) ³Permitting two years age relaxation and fee concession to encourage girl

candidates to join maritime sector.´

(v) ³The training and examination systems have been reviewed to minimize the

avoidable delays for obtaining certificate of competency.´

(Sabha, 2007)

Treating crews with respect and dignity is the first building block

towards improving the image of shipping followed by providing better service.

Therefore, improving the conditions of employment and living standards on vessels

appear to be factors important to increase the recruitment and retention of human

resources, particularly in times of shortages.( Joishi,2005)

The new generation is an inter-connected generation and social

networks like face book and my space are considered as their platform for their self

expression and their inter connectivity. For new generation to consider life at sea

these will be their minimum requirement and Information communication technology

in onboard is one area requiring vast improvements .Including job rotation between

ship and shore in the early stages of the career can help the new recruits to sustain

in the industry for a longer period. Organisations have to change their traditional

strategies and should find new policies like flexible work hours, and replacing

authoritarian style management with a mentoring approach . The shipping industry

need to attract applicants by marketing how the experience being a seafarer will

enable them to increase their market value. Job satisfaction levels of officers must

be protected by the shipping companies for a long term rather than for a short term.

(Cahoon and Haugstetter,2008).



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One of the main problems in the shipping industry is the lack of

awareness of the availability of jobs and training and the attractiveness of the

industry. Use of advertising and marketing in all type of medias can put some come

contribution in solving this issue. Employees themselves can become 'brand

ambassadors' of their industry and can communicate the values of their

organisations with other people and can thus can refer people to their

organisation.(Sabha,2007).

Conclusions

The aim of this paper was to find ways to attract and recruit

officers into marine industry. Attention was initially given to the present demand and

supply of the officers and factors causing the mismatch between them. Throughout

the paper it is noticed that there are not enough skilled officers to replace these

retirements, leading to a deficit in the supply.The ship owners, Governments and

maritime organisations, need to make the industry more attractive in order to entice

and increase the number of people entering the industry.. Training centres and

Maritime Institutions should be created worldwide to recruit and train to the

standards and qualifications needed.

Furthermore I am concluding that there is a necessity to

recruitment of new officers to the industry which is imperative for future manning

requirements. To meet the anticipated demand, recruitment and training levels need

to be increased and efforts must be put to retain the experienced officers in the

industry.

Word Count: 2590



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