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Back to SSG 10
Henrik Edwinsson, middle, organised the annual Career days at Kalmar Maritime Academy together with Lars Larsson and Fredrik Strömbäck. Photo: Paul Gunnstedt
Manning in the shipping industry
Shortage must be solved by the business
The problem of manning the growing commercial fleet has been an issue for more than a decade. International organisations ranging from the EU to Bimco and the ISF claim there is a shortage of up to 10,000 officers, and rising to close to 30,000 in the years to come.
“In the next two years we need 230 experienced officers”, says Rolf Axelsen, director of Marine human resources at Teekay Marine Services AS.
Well-known solution
The problem of finding sufficient numbers of qualified and experienced officers has been a fact for a long time and the solution has virtually been the same for just as long:
Get young people into the Naval academies through information campaigns, show the benefits a job at sea offers with good salaries and long shore leaves, make sure there are enough positions onboard vessels for officers in training and promote possibilities of a land based career after a few years at sea.
The European Union wrote this in 2001 and again in 2005. A number of organisations have said the same things over and over again.
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Rolf Axelsen, head of Human Resources at Teekay. Photo: Paul Gunnstedt |
“It is the shipowners themselves who must prove to the young people that there is a career in shipping. But having said that, it is also up to the politicians. For us here in Norway the situation has been very unstable. With every new government we have had a new set of rules and regulations. And of course we need the same rules throughout Europe”, says Rolf Axelsen at Teekay, who recently visited Career days at Kalmar Maritime Academy to try to find future employees.
During the winter there were reports of FPSO masters being offered salaries of USD 22,000 per month and “poaching” – shipowners entering the market offering very high salaries to recruit officers from established companies – has become a reality. In a situation like this one would expect graduates from the naval academies to be able to pick and choose from companies willing to employ them.
Easy to attract companies
“I think it has been easier to attract companies from abroad this year, especially from Norway”, says Henrik Edwinsson, student at Kalmar Maritime Academy, who together with two fellow students organised the annual Career days, which attracted over 50 exhibitors from all over Scandinavia.
During the career days some students got job offers and some allegedly signed contracts, but Henrik Edwinsson still mentions the most common way of getting a job:
“I think most students try to get a job at the company where they had their last practical training period.”
Cadet positions
This underlines the necessity of making sure there are sufficient numbers of positions for cadets in the merchant fleet.
“Our problem is over supply of cadets, and therefore a big problem of getting cadets onto ships for practical training”, says Adolf Wysocki, secretary general of the Polish Shipowners’ Association.
“But what is also very important is that young people are still considering it a future career opportunity to work at sea, and they are still applying to our academies.”
In the booming Norwegian oil and gas sector the problem is partly the same, but the shortage more acute.
“In the next two years Teekay needs 230 experienced officers, in 2007 we have 210 places for cadets in our fleet. But our problem lays in the fact that it will take ten years before these cadets can take up the positions we need them to fill right now”, says Rolf Axelsen at Teekay in Grimstad.
Brain drain
With the great difference in wage costs between eastern and western Europe and not enough experienced officers in the western parts of the continent, there is a risk that Poland and other eastern nations would suffer from brain drain when companies from the west can offer higher salaries.
“We do not suffer that much from that, but of course the most efficient and most educated officers are not working for Polish companies anymore. We have had a problem with the language, and what we see now is foreign companies coming in to offer cadets a position and even language training if they sign longer contracts”, says Adolf Wysocki.
Even though the lack of officers was created in different ways in different parts of Europe – in Sweden, for instance, the shipping industry was almost wiped out and nobody could ask anybody to start a career at sea, which was not the case in other parts of Europe – it has not been hard to come to a mutual understanding that something must be done.
Done their part
“We in Ecsa have been very good at finding a consensus, and the issue of manning has been with us for a long time. I think we have done our part throughout the economical upswing we have had for quite some time now”, says Lennart Simonsson, president of Ecsa (European Community Shipowners’ Association) and continues:
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| “We in the industry must show that there is a future career in shipping”, says Bimco president Lennart Simonsson. Photo: Broström |
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“But then it all comes back to having neutral competition between nations within the European Union, and here I must say that if the EU and the Commission, has been good for anything it has been good for shipping. They understood at an early stage the importance of shipping.”
Changing perspective from his role as president of Ecsa to his role as CEO of Swedish shipping group Broström, Lennart Simonsson makes the point of creating a complete career for those who choose a career at sea.
“Our challenge in the industry is to make sure that we are the best alternative when any of our seamen wants to continue their career ashore. Then later, after a couple of years when they have raised their families, or what ever their reason to find work ashore was, perhaps they want to go back to sea again.”
Personal development
This is also what student Henrik Edwinsson thinks is just as important as the common arguments of high salaries and long shore leaves: possibilities for personal development.
“I think many who go to the Marine Academy start because they have heard about high salaries and long shore leaves. The genuine interest in working at sea comes after a couple of years. And therefore I think most of us who are considering future employment really also consider what career opportunities or courses and education the companies offer.”
Rolf Axelsen at Teekay is already facing the problem of finding people for their land based job opportunities. Often it is persons with experience from the sea he is looking for, but cannot find.
“This is a global organisation so we can still find people within the organisation but perhaps we cannot get them to take a job in for example Norway.”
//Fredrik Davidsson
Latest update 14-05-2007 13:57
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2007